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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.

Sec. Veterinary Dentistry and Oromaxillofacial Surgery

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1571539

Cheek tooth repulsion aided by computer-assisted surgery in 16 equids

Provisionally accepted
Micaël David Klopfenstein BreggerMicaël David Klopfenstein Bregger1,2,3*Mathieu De PreuxMathieu De Preux1,2,3Hervé Paul BrünisholzHervé Paul Brünisholz1,2,3Elke Van Der VekensElke Van Der Vekens1,3,4Daniela SchweizerDaniela Schweizer1,3,4Christoph KochChristoph Koch1,2,3
  • 1Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • 2Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • 3Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Bern, Switzerland
  • 4Division of Clinical Radiology, Bern, Switzerland

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This retrospective case series reports on the use of computer-assisted surgery (CAS) to perform cheek tooth repulsion in 16 equids. Thirteen of the 16 subjects in this case series had a mandibular cheek tooth repulsed, and 3 had a maxillary cheek tooth removed. Surgery was performed on all subjects under general anesthesia, and all but one were placed in lateral recumbency. All cheek teeth were successfully removed by navigated repulsion, except in one case where additional intraoral sectioning was performed. In one horse, a surgical approach through the contralateral nasal conchae was made to facilitate exodontia. This led to considerable hemorrhage and a temporary tracheotomy was performed to ensure airway patency postoperatively. Six subjects needed at least one additional revision surgery to remove either osseous or dental fragments or sequestrated alveolar bone.Outcome was successful in all but one subject, which was euthanized after surgery because a squamous cell carcinoma was diagnosed histologically. The real-time intraoperative guidance provided by CAS allows for controlled and accurate surgical access to targeted dental structures and exodontia of cheek teeth.

Keywords: Cheek tooth, repulsion, computer-assisted surgery, dental surgery, horse

Received: 05 Feb 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Klopfenstein Bregger, De Preux, Brünisholz, Van Der Vekens, Schweizer and Koch. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Micaël David Klopfenstein Bregger, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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