Early Versus Late Fixation of Mandibular Fractures in Adults

Abstract

Background: facial fractures occur most commonly in males in the third decade of life. The most frequent causes of facial fractures are road traffic accident, interpersonal violence, falls, and sportsrelated accidents. Mandible fractures are one of the common facial fractures in the adult population. However, the timing of treatment of mandible fractures remains a source of debate. Aim of the work: the aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of early versus late treatment of isolated mandibular fractures in adults upon healing and postoperative complications. Patients and Methods: the present study included 20 patients who were presented by isolated mandibular fractures. They were divided into two groups according to the time utilized from injury to operative intervention: Group 1: included 11 patients who were treated within 72 hours. Group 2: included 9 patients who were treated after 72 hours up to 14 days. All included patients were underwent full history taking, examinations (general and local) done in a systematic manner, laboratory and radiological examination. Outcome was documented for all patients. Results: both groups were comparable as regard to age and sex (no females). The most common cause of trauma in studied patients was road traffic accident. Operative time extended from 110 to 192 minutes with no significant difference between absorbable and non-absorbable groups (150.07±23.99 vs 160.06±20.54 minutes respectively). There were a total of 20 males and no females in the study group with a mean age of 23.3±6.3 (range 18to 38 years) in the immediate group and 26.6±8.1 (range 18 to 39 years) in the delayed group. The most common fracture types in both groups were parasymphyseal and angle fractures with RTA as the most common etiology. In the immediate group, there were one patient with temporomandibular joint pain after surgery, five patients with numbness, and one patient with malocclusion. In the delayed group, no patients with TMJ pain, seven patients with numbness, and two patients with malocclusion. Conclusion: our study did not reveal a statistically significant difference in the development of postoperative complications after mandible fracture repair between the early and late treatment groups.