So this is mainly to get the conversation started. Is fiberglass a good option for the repair of a tortoise carapace? I've seen plenty of repair jobs done with fiberglass, but that resin seems toxic to me. Input folks?
I wish @TortoiseDVM would respond here. I know they stopped using fiberglass for the reasons mentioned. But dental cement seems to be the latest thing...maybe it moves and wouldn't hinder growth...I'm not sure anymore...
Current veterinary medicine promotes use of surgical wire in conjunction with screws to allow proper apposition for normal healing. Fiberglass repair of shell damage is considered "Old School" for several reasons. First the resin that penetrates the shell defect does not allow for normal healing and can actually cause severe damage to soft tissue during the setting process when the resin heats up. Screw and wire technique brings pieces of shell into apposition, a granulation bed forms in the narrowed defect and the boney plate of the plastron/ carapace slowly grows over. With fiberglass repair cases that went well short term, it was found that later when breakdown occurred ( several years to 8 years down the road) a defected shell was still present and reopened the defect for movement and invasion of serious infection (osteomyelitis).
In summary, though it seems like a good idea to quickly "patch" a shell with man made shell like material, it is better to promote the natural healing process with the screw and wire technique or allowing a deep granulation bed to keratinize for long term repair in a long lived species rather than choosing a quick method that eventually fails.
That said, I have used fiberglass repair recently in a gravid chicken turtle that was hit by a car while crossing the road. Her cranial plastron was "spider cracked" and her prognosis was poor. The reason I chose to use fiberglass repair in this particular case was that it was quick and didn't require anesthesia. Placing this female under anesthesia would have likely killed the embryos, as well as the table time of flipping her on her back may have caused rupture of the eggs leading to internal infection. In her case fiberglass repair was chosen and her eggs were laid three weeks later. View attachment 102008