‘The Wall’ undergoes surgery on his fractured jaw at Manipal Hospital by the same surgeon who performed a similar surgery on Anil Kumble in 2002.
Senior India batsman, Rahul Dravid, went under the scalpel at Manipal Hospital here on Friday. In undergoing the minor corrective surgery on his injured left upper jaw, The Wall was only reaffirming the link between Bangalore, its cricketers and their broken jaws. Incidentally, the doctor who set the damage right, is another common thread binding them.
Maxillofacial surgeon Dr Kishore Nayak carried out the surgery on Dravid, who had returned to Bangalore on Wednesday evening from Dhaka with a broken jaw. The cricketer had broken his lower jaw during the second Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur.
Dr Nayak had also operated upon the broken jaw of Dravid’s senior colleague from Bangalore, former India captain, Anil Kumble, in 2002.
“Dravid suffered a depressed fracture of the left cheek bone (left zygomatic arch bone), and this was corrected using a standard open approach,” Dr HS Ballal, medical director of Manipal Hospital, said.
“The fracture had caused flattening of the face on the left side and
obstruction of the lower jaw,” Dr Nayak said. “This was rectified through a minor procedure known as reduction of zygomatic bone. It took only 20 to 25 minutes for the surgery, and he is perfectly fine now,” he said.
“This kind of injury is common in road accident and assault victims, and in contact sports like rugby and boxing, but not among cricketers,” Dr Nayak said.
“Kumble had fractured his lower jaw while playing in the West Indies,” he recalled. “He immediately came back to Bangalore and got himself operated upon.”
The same doctor had operated on India ‘A’ opener, S Sriram, also for a broken lower jaw, a few days before operating on Kumble.
Dr Nayak said he had performed the ‘rigid internal fixation’ procedure on Kumble, assisted by another maxillofacial surgeon, at Mallya Hospital.
Dravid’s fracture was of a different kind, and it did not require any fixation, Dr Nayak said. While Kumble was on a liquid diet for days after his surgery, Dravid was back to a normal diet soon after his operation, he said.
Dravid had to retire hurt while batting at 111, after he was struck on his jaw by a bouncer by Shahadat Hossain on January 25. He received preliminary treatment in a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
He chose to fly back home for further medical attention and consulted Dr Nayak on Thursday.
Dravid was accompanied to the hospital by his wife. “He (Dravid) is a very down-to-earth person,” said a hospital staff. “But since he was suffering from severe pain, he did not want to meet anyone and wanted the area cordoned off. Only a couple of staffers managed to get his autograph.”
He was discharged from the hospital later on Friday. Dr Nayak said he could resume normal activities in two days. However, he had been advised against playing cricket or any contact sports for about two to three weeks.
This means, Dravid is likely to miss the Test series against South Africa which starts in Nagpur on February 6.
This was Dravid’s second visit to the hospital. “We first saw him when he had come after the birth of his second son in our hospital. He had then interacted with all the staff members, and had even given us autographs,” the employee said, not wanting to be named.
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