Carma the St. Bernard was about a year old when her owner, Carissa Wyant, noticed something alarming. The puppy was bleeding into her water dish.

“At first, I thought maybe she had chewed or bitten something,” says Wyant of her spunky, 175-pound canine companion. “So we’re going around the house looking for signs of that.”

It soon became apparent that Carma’s bleeding warranted a trip to the neighborhood vet, where they found a lesion on the roof of her mouth and prescribed antibiotics. After that didn’t work, Wyant brought Carma to Primary Care at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center, where clinicians referred her to the Dentistry and Oral Surgery service.

Jennifer Kelley, a veterinary dentist and oral surgeon and a College of Veterinary Medicine assistant professor, explains that Carma’s breed and personality made the initial exam tricky. She was a young, excited giant-breed dog with the pendulous lips typical of St. Bernards, making it nearly impossible to get a good conscious oral exam.

It wasn’t until Carma was anesthetized that the team realized there was another issue. Carma couldn’t fully open her mouth. A cone-beam CT scan revealed the cause: a bony mass growing off the back of her left caudal maxilla and orbit, right at the point where the jaw opens and closes.

“Teeth are like icebergs,” Kelley says. “That’s why, for dental pathology in particular, we always need anesthetized imaging to really tell what’s going on beneath the surface. In this case, it revealed a way bigger problem.”

The tumor was so rare that the pathology cited essentially one prior case report in dogs. And because the mass was too deep to biopsy through a less invasive approach, Kelley decided to plan a definitive surgery to remove it. To prepare for an orbitectomy, her team produced a 3D-printed replica of Carma’s skull, which Kelley used for surgical planning and kept at her side during the four-hour procedure.

 “I use 3D printing quite a bit to help with more complicated procedures, because the head has really complicated anatomy and there are really important vital structures, and so it’s helpful to have an actual 3D printed skull to help with surgical planning,” Kelley says. “We also sterilize it so we can have it with us during surgery.”

For Wyant, the diagnosis was terrifying, but seeing the 3D-printed skull before surgery gave her a new insight into the procedure.

“When people are telling you things and showing you X-rays, it’s hard to visualize,” Wyant says. “But to hold it in your hands and see where the lump is and see what they’re going to do helped.”

The surgery required a full team, including an anesthesiologist experienced with giant breeds, blood supply on standby because the surgical site was dangerously close to a major artery, and Kelley, who was leading the way.

When a post-operative infection complicated recovery, the VMC’s 24/7 access proved critical. One night at 3 a.m., Wyant accidentally gave Carma her next dose of medicine too soon and called in a panic.

“They patched me right back to emergency and said she was going to be fine,” she says. “I don’t know where else you get that type of help at any time of day.”

The pathology report brought the best possible news — a benign fibro-osseous tumor, removed with clean surgical margins. Kelley reconstructed Carma’s orbit using muscle tissue to support the globe, and today the difference is barely visible.

Beyond the emergency, Wyant says she values the VMC’s approach to everyday care, including letting her stay in the room during exams, helping hold Carma and having every step explained.

“Everyone there is compassionate and dedicated to Carma’s care,” she says.

Eventually, Carma fully recovered. When Wyant packed for Carma’s first post-surgery event at the St. Bernard Club of America national show, she brought something extra: the little maroon University of Minnesota leash that had been sent home with Carma after surgery.

“I knew even if we didn’t win that show, it was a huge win just for us to be there and for her to be alive and able to compete,” Wyant says.