Mandible (lower jaw) and premaxillary (upper jaw) fractures are common equine head injuries, according to David Moll, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, professor of large animal clinical sciences at Oklahoma State University. There are many described techniques to repair theses types of fractures, including interdental wiring, intermedullary pins, lag screws, external fixation, or a combination. During the 51st Annual American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held in Seattle, Wash., Dec. 3-7, 2005, Moll explained how to use interdental wiring to repair these fractures in a standing horse.

According to Moll, most mandibular and premaxillary fractures are commonly avulsion (forcible separation) type fractures that often separate incisors, leaving them attached only by surrounding tissue. These injuries can appear to be devastating, but with appropriate therapy they generally have a good prognosis of returning to normal functionality and appearance.

In pastured horses, fractures can sometimes go unnoticed for a day or even longer, but they are usually quite obvious to the owner when opening the horse’s mouth. Moll said signs of incisor fractures include incisor malalignment, difficulty chewing, the horse keeping his mouth open (lower jaw dropped), and difficulty eating. Additionally, an old fracture might smell bad because of infection