From personal experience with acrylic, I can say covering wounds like this probably does delay union but in some cases wiring can't be used, I think it all depends on how they're broken.
You know my Chip has been put back together with acrylic, but my Shell E was put back together with stainless steel suture. SS worked wonders for her but her break was in only one area, and it wasn't anywhere near as horrible as Chip's.
He was so broken I don't see how anything but acrylic would've worked for him.

Our tortoise was shot with a gun, her bullet holes were covered in acrylic a couple of years or so ago and it's steadily worn off as time passes. Some of the wounds where it wore off are now completely healed. Last month some of it wore off and exposed a bullet hole, the wound looked better than it did 2 years ago but the vet still decided to go ahead & cover those unhealed areas again.
I can see that yes she has been healing under there so when the vet said "I need to do this over" I said ok.
I said ok because she buys all the latest books, goes to 2-3 reptile veterinary conferences every year, keeps up with all the latest, so I decided I need to trust her on this because she's never failed me.
Even though epoxy & such is falling out of favor now, it's apparently still useful.
I'm not saying any of this to sway opinions.
This is just a little testimonial on my own experiences with broken shells.
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PHRatz

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