Frequency of Inferior Alveolar Nerve Damage After Open Reduction and Internal Fixation in Mandibular Fractures

Abstract

One of the most frequent injuries to the maxillofacial region is mandibular fracture. Numerous places experience fractures. The inferior alveolar nerve is often injured as a result of mandibular fractures. Objective: To ascertain how frequently patients in the oral and maxillofacial department of the Ayub Teaching Hospital in Abbottabad experienced inferior alveolar nerve injury following open reduction and fixation of a mandibular fracture. Methods: This was a Descriptive case series carried out at Oral and Maxillofacial Department, Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad after approval from the IRB of the institution and CPSP vide number (CPSP/REU/DSG-2018-010-2532). Using the formula to evaluate proportion with absolute precision and the following premises, the sample size was determined to be 96 using the WHO software for sample size computation in health studies: The expected percentage of inferior alveolar nerve injury following fixation in mandibular fracture is 45%, the confidence level is 95%, and the absolute precision is 10%. Results: The mean age of participants was 35.81±5.63 years with range from 26 to 45 years. Most common age group was 36-40 years and 41-45 years (n=26, 27.08%) followed by 26-30 years (n=23, 23.96%). There were 70 (72.92%) males and 26 (27.08%) females in the study. Majority (n=88; 91.67%) of the patients were given general anesthesia while the remaining (n=8; 8.33%) received local anesthesia. Perioperative inferior alveolar nerve injury was observed in 56 (58.33%) patients while permanent inferior alveolar nerve injury was diagnosed in 39 (40.63%) patients. Conclusions: Damage to inferior alveolar nerve is a frequent problem of open reduction and fixation of mandibular fracture. However, utmost care should be exercised to reduce its occurrence in patients with mandibular fracture.