Thank you both for your replies. I have just contacted the Beaufort practice and am waiting on a call back.

I have heard of Richard Saunders, he is who my vet originally wanted to refer me to, but said he had left Bristol university veterinary practice where he had previously been and that now he works for rabbit welfare. Do you know if he is still performing surgeries?

I have also left a message for John, he does a satalite surgery at my practice, but my vet said that the referral she has made for me is better as they have more equipment???? Waiting to hear what john says

The vet I have been referred to is Elizabetta Mancinelli. Does anyone have any experience of her with buns?

Many thanks

However, the fact that John chitty has written a book on abscesses makes me hopeful. Has anyone used him before?

@joea64 sorry if it wasn’t clear, or you missed my first post. I have already been to see her yesterday. She is one of the leading exotics vets in Europe and she was very good, knowledgable and lovely. Her consultation alone was about 90 minutes and very thorough. However, she said she has only performed the particular surgery needed (as it’s rarer) two times before, with a 50% success rate.

So that’s the reason I’m trying to find a vet that maybe has more experience with this particular surgery.

I know she is very well qualified, but I was hoping someone would know a very experienced dental vet who might have seen this a few more times.

As an update: John Chitty called me back tonight (from home at 9:30pm – which is above and beyond – I was really impressed with how much he seems to care about my bun’s welfare). He said he knows Elizabetta, and will liaise with her about Ethel’s case. But he agreed it was a complicated operation and had only experience it a handful of times too.

Hopefully whoever is more confident will take the case

She is proposing to go in through the cheek and through the muscle, then to extract the fragmented tooth root through the abscess. Ethel’s jaw anatomy has become disfigured from the abscess, and vet is no longer sure where the blood vessels and nerves lie in that major muscle. So she was concerned that she will cut into the wrong place.

Awaiting the detailed CT results tomorrow to check how much of the jaw bone has been compromised. Preliminary results show whole left side is affected, and it’s possible that the infection is right the way through the thickness of the bone – which I think means she can’t file away the bone infection completely?

Ethel is nearly 4, and has never had teeth problems before now. She started showing signs of illness about 5 weeks ago but we weren’t sure what it was – teeth looked fine. When she started drooling (3 weeks ago) she went under GA for a molar examination and they removed a tiny spur which my vet was confused at why it would cause so many problems. Did an X-ray which showed very mild dental disease in the roots – but vet said she had seen plenty worse that barely affected the bun as long as didn’t get worse. And gums looked fine. Took her back the next week as she wasn’t getting better, and an abscess had popped up.

So this abscess has caused this potentially fatal problem in 2 weeks.

Obviously the infection was there when the pain started, it just hadn’t manifested yet. I feel so much regret for not knowing it was there, and don’t want to lose my baby girl

Oh, and Elizabetta is in Bristol – highcroft vets. Her credentials are amazing, which is why my vet referred me there (she knows Ethel isn’t just a rabbit). She was so knowledgable. I’m just scared that she’s only done this op twice.