Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with brain injury after tooth extraction and dental trauma
By Troxel, Mark·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2015·From the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Iatrogenic traumatic brain injury during tooth extraction.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
An 8-year-old spayed female Yorkshire terrier started showing signs of neurological problems, like circling to the left and being blind in her right eye, after a routine dental cleaning that included tooth extractions. An MRI revealed a small skull fracture and damage to her brain, likely caused by a dental tool slipping during the procedure. She was treated with an antibiotic called clindamycin and, over the next four months, she regained most of her normal brain function. While she isn't completely back to normal, she is living a good quality of life.
People also search for: dog neurological signs after dental cleaning · Yorkshire terrier brain injury treatment · dog tooth extraction complications
Abstract
An 8 yr old spayed female Yorkshire terrier was referred for evaluation of progressive neurological signs after a routine dental prophylaxis with tooth extractions. The patient was circling to the left and blind in the right eye with right hemiparesis. Neurolocalization was to the left forebrain. MRI revealed a linear tract extending from the caudal oropharynx, through the left retrobulbar space and frontal lobe, into the left parietal lobe. A small skull fracture was identified in the frontal bone through which the linear tract passed. Those findings were consistent with iatrogenic trauma from slippage of a dental elevator during extraction of tooth 210. The dog was treated empirically with clindamycin. The patient regained most of its normal neurological function within the first 4 mo after the initial injury. Although still not normal, the dog has a good quality of life. Traumatic brain injury is a rarely reported complication of extraction. Care must be taken while performing dental cleaning and tooth extraction, especially of the maxillary premolar and molar teeth to avoid iatrogenic damage to surrounding structures.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25695556/