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A drill or pin broke, or the wrong length was supplied — what now?

Problem What to do
Drill breaks (general) Remove it and start over, or leave it in place if it's lodged in the shaft of the Fixation Base.
Drill breaks inside the Fixation Base First decide whether removal is needed. If it isn't protruding through the fixation hole and you have 3+ other pins, you may leave it. To remove: take off the Pin Guide, remove the other pins, then the Fixation Base, and extract the fragment with rongeurs. Replace the drill from another kit, mark the correct length against a pin with a sharpie, and continue. You can always under-drill and mallet into place.
Pin breaks Very rare — a drill or bur shank can be used to hold the base in place as a substitute.
Only short pins, but the plan calls for long Acceptable: use the short pins, don't drill to full depth, and mallet the remaining 3–4 mm.
Only long pins/drills, but the plan calls for short A judgment call by exit point (maxilla vs. mandible). It may be acceptable to tap through the lingual cortical plate. You can leave long drills protruding from the Fixation Base — often the best option, since the pin trajectories hold the base in place.
Crooked drill won't back out If you can't easily remove it and have ~2 mm to spare, leave it and use the other drill (measure length against a pin with a sharpie). If it's your only drill, it must come out. Remove the Pin Guide and other pins first. This is a last resort, since re-seated pins won't fit as they originally did and base stability can suffer.

 

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