Thirty-six superficial digital flexor tendons from nine fresh equine cadavers were transected and sutured with size 2 monofilament nylon. Nine tendons were repaired with each of four suture patterns: single-locking loop, double-locking loop, triple-locking loop, or three-loop pulley. The times required for application, tensile strengths, resistance to distraction (gap), and modes of failure were analyzed. The mean times required were: single-locking loop, 3 mins, 15 secs; double-locking loop, 4 mins, 15 secs; triple-locking loop, 10 mins, 50 secs; and three-loop pulley, 4 mins. The double-locking loop, triple-locking loop, and three-loop pulley suture patterns were stronger than the single-locking loop. The triple-locking loop and three-loop pulley patterns were close in strength and only the triple-locking loop was stronger than the double-locking loop. The three-loop pulley had the greatest resistance to gap formation and its mode of failure was different from the others. The three-locking loop suture patterns failed by suture breakage but the three-loop pulley failed first by suture pull-out and then by suture breakage.

Summary Exodontia is the typical treatment recommended in severe cases of dental disease where alternative treatment techniques fail to salvage the affected tooth. Exodontias are frequently performed in the standing horse with the benefit of sedation and regional anaesthesia in order to avoid the risks and expense of general anaesthesia. The inferior alveolar nerve block is commonly utilised when extracting diseased mandibular dentition. Because of the close anatomical relationship of the lingual and inferior alveolar nerves both may be desensitised following anaesthesia of the inferior alveolar nerve. Desensitisation of the tongue may result in horses traumatising it during mastication before sensation returns. This report describes 3 horses that sustained self‐inflicted lingual trauma following inferior alveolar nerve blocks performed for standing oral surgical procedures.

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To test the hypothesis that coating external fixation pins with a silver-containing compound (Spi-Argent, Spire Corp, Bedford, Mass) will reduce bacterial colonization and/ or pin tract infection, 36 silver-coated and 12 conventional stainless steel pins were placed in the iliac crest of six sheep and inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus. After 2 ½ weeks the pin sites were examined for motion and inflammation, and the pin tips were quantitatively cultured and examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We found that 84% of the uncoated pins were infected, while 62% of the silver-coated pins were infected. Silver-coated pins were less frequently infected than uncoated pins (confidence interval [CI] >85%). Also, silver-coated pins were loose less frequently than uncoated pins. Pin motion was closely correlated with infection: 28 of 32 infected pins (88%) had motion, while only 9 of 16 uninfected pins (56%) had motion (CI >80%). SEM study of the pin tips showed a decreased level of glycocalyx-protected colonization on the surface of the silver-coated pins. Clinically, these results suggest that silver-coated pins will result in less infection and motion at the pin site, the most significant problems in external fixation.