I am new to this and I might not even be in the right area, so if I’m not will someone please direct me to the right spot, please? I have a friend who runs a non-profit corgi rescue (Celtic Corgi Rescue) in Oklahoma. She recently had a young corgi brought to her who had a severe jaw problem. They assumed it was broken but found out after getting him to the vet that the problem was due to permanent nerve damage, and that surgery was not an option. He looks like he is constantly yawning and he cannot close his mouth; it is heartbreaking to see. He has lived over half his life like this so he is underweight but he has learned to eat and drink by flipping his head upside down. It’s obviously not working and the rescue is needing to find a permanent solution for him in order to give him a fighting chance at finding a forever home. This is where this group comes in… someone suggested a jaw prosthetic being made by a 3-D printer. He is a corgi so he’s not a big dog but he needs to be able to have a good quality of life. He’s not quite three years old yet but he is full grown and needs to be able to eat unassisted. We have no idea how to come up with template requirements for what the jaw prosthetic would look like. How do we even get started with something like this? Better yet, is there someone in this group that would be willing to help us put the template together and create the prosthetic? I am open to any and all suggestions. Thank you for listening and please let me know what you have!
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Tammy,
To make a prosthetic work they have to nerves and muscles to actuate the prosthesis. We could make a replacement lower jaw but with the paralysis and nothing in the head area to actuate it with it would not be any more effective than his current situation. Let me think about this but I think it would be very difficult to design something a pet could eat with. We might be able to design something to support the jaw to limit how far it drops. This might help with eating but I think the dog is going to be limited to soft food softened with water. I think a jaw support and not a prosthesis would be the best approach.
I can design and print it but with that type of injury I think that is the best you are going to be able to do.
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RCole
3
Hi Tammy,
You might want to give a shout out to the CAP Project (Computer Aided Pets). It’s a volunteer network building prosthesis for animals.
At the very least, they should be able to point you in the right direction (or find a volunteer to help). I hope this little corgi gets the help he needs. Please let us know how things turn out.
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Enza3D
4
The only other alternative I can think of that might possibly work is to develop a mechanism that opens and closes the jaw with some kind of actuation, similar to an e-NABLE hand. Obviously since he’s a dog, that’s a bit more difficult but seeing as he learned to eat upside down, he could probably trained to actuate it so that head up meant jaw closed and head down meant jaw open. Simply use head motion as the actuation and it may work.
The mechanics would need to be more robust than an e-NABLE hand due to the weight of the lower jaw, versus just opening and closing motion. It would certainly be an interesting project.
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He has some limited movement but it’s not much. I will add the vet’s notes from when he was evaluated. That’s when they found out his jaw wasn’t broken and that surgery wouldn’t fix it. Maybe that might help answer some of your questions and give you some more info. Maybe! Hopefully! Thank you!!!
I contacted the CAP Project and have been talking with a volunteer named Jim. Thank you so much!!!
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Enza3D
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If you want, shoot us an email at hubs@enza3d.com and I’d like to talk to you more about this.
Here are the vet’s notes from when Winston was examined. This will hopefully give everyone a little better idea of the extent of his jaw injury and how best to move forward for him. Thanks again to those who have already replied. You don’t know how much it means to us that you’ve taken the time to give us your thoughts!!
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11/23/16 Update: I wanted to let everyone who has commented know that we are working with the awesome volunteers at the CAP Project, and they are actively working on a new jaw device for Winston as I type this. Things are already looking up for him. I can’t thank you guys enough for all your help and your suggestions when I first posted three weeks ago. Thank you!!!
Enza3D
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That’s amazing! Best of luck, and we’d love to hear about how Winston progresses 
RCole
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I am happy to hear that. CAP does good work. Please get us a picture when they get it working (and maybe a video).
Give Winston a good scratch for me.
