Mandibular fracture and necrotizing sialometaplasia in a rabbit

A 7-mo-old female New Zealand white rabbit presented with hemorrhage of the gingiva surrounding a loose lower right incisor. Antemortem conventional radiographs revealed only a small bone fragment adjacent to the left mandible's body. In light of a provisional diagnosis of mandibular fracture, the rabbit was euthanized. Postmortem radiographs of the disarticulated mandible demonstrated mandibular symphyseal fracture and comminuted fracture of the ramus and body of the left mandible. According to histopathology, the left submandibular salivary gland had necrotizing sialometaplasia, a nonneoplastic condition of the salivary glands that is caused by ischemic infarction. Although rabbits have been used as animal models of mandibular fracture and necrotizing sialometaplasia, no nonexperimental case of such conditions had been reported previously.