Bulldog Puppy Spontaneously Regrows Jaw Removed in Cancer Surgery

A French bulldog puppy has miraculously regrown his jaw after veterinarians removed it during cancer surgery.

This is the first time this has ever occurred in a dog, a report on the case from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University determined.

Tyson the bulldog, who is only 3 months old, had a cancerous tumor in his jaw that needed to be removed.

But this also meant that most of the puppy's jaw had to be removed with it. Animals are able to function without a large part of their jaw, but this is still major surgery. Veterinarians at the Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals determined this would be worth it, as Tyson's cancer did not appear to have spread at this point.

So, the surgery went ahead, and veterinarians and Tyson's owners were stunned when the jaw started regrowing. The best news is that there appears to be no trace of cancer in the new bone.

"We decided to give him a chance and continue with surgery. We had no idea his jaw would grow back," one of Tyson's owners, Melissa Forsythe, told Cornell University.

There have been cases where small parts of the jawbone have regrown in young dogs. However, Tyson had a sizable chunk removed, making this case exceptionally rare.

Veterinarians who worked on this case are still flummoxed by what happened, but they have theories.

A study on the phenomenon published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science suggests that this regrowth was possible because a large amount of membrane, which contains blood vessels and nerves that support bone growth, was preserved in the surgery.

"This was likely imperative to the regeneration of new bone," Alexandra Wright, dentistry and oral surgery resident and leader of Tyson's care team, said in a Cornell report. "More has to be done to understand the likelihood of this occurring in other dogs and if a specific age range makes a difference, but this case documents a very positive surgical outcome in a life-threatening situation,"

Veterinarians suspect that the early detection of the dog's tumor also played a large role.

The new, regrowing jaw has no teeth and no mandibular canal, an area containing blood vessels and nerves, but is almost as useable as the original, veterinarians reported.

Following his surgery, Tyson appears to be enjoy the life of any normal dog. He has recently completed an obedience class and took part in a Christmas parade, a press release from Cornell reported.

Although Tyson still doesn't enjoy hard food or toys, he likes to eat kibble soaked in water. Forsythe said her dog was the best patient throughout the process.

"His case now demonstrates the possibility of complete bone regeneration when working with a patient this young," Wright said.

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