A Comparative Biomechanical Evaluation of Mandibular Condyle Fracture Plating Techniques

Abstract

The aim of this study was to comparatively evaluate the resistance of 3 plating rigid internal fixation techniques for mandibular condylar process fractures. Synthetic hemi-mandible replicas made in polyurethane were used to evaluate a control, and 3 mandibular condyle plating techniques using 2-mm system plates and screws. The plating techniques were fixation with a 4-hole plate and 4 6-mm screws, fixation with a 4-hole plate and 4 8-mm screws and fixation with 2 4-hole plates with 4 6-mm screws each. Each group was subjected to linear loading in medial to lateral and anterior to posterior directions by an Instron 4411 servohydraulic mechanical testing unit (Instron Corp, Norwood, MA). Load peak value and peak displacement were measured. Means and standard derivations were derived and compared for statistical significance using an analyses variance (P < .05) and compared by Tukey test. Statistically significant differences were noted between fixation groups for the different mechanical measures evaluated under the different directions of linear loading. The 2-plate fixation system presented better behavior, followed by 1 plate with 4 8-mm screws and 1 plate with 4 6-mm screws. The fixation systems used were more resistant to antero-posterior load and the use of 8-mm screws improved the resistance of the fixation when compared with 6-mm screws only in the antero-posterior test. Under the conditions tested the 2-plate fixation system provided the most favorable mechanical behavior. We can suggest that lengthy screws, with bicortical engagement, can increase the stability at fixation of mandibular condylar process fractures.