The repair of facial fractures.

Abstract

The skeletal complex of the face is formed by the union of 3 unpaired bones with 7 paired bones. Structural weaknesses cross suture lines (Fig. 1). Certain fracture complexes are classic. The largest of the unpaired bones is the mandible. It supports the lower facial third and articulates with the skull base in the glenoid fossae of the temporal bones. The vomer bone and the ethmoid bone form the bony nasal septum and enclose the nasal vault at the cribriform plate. The lateral aspects of the ethmoid bone are honeycombed pneumatic labyrinths that support the medial aspects of the orbital content bilaterally against their paper-thin bony laminae. Nestled forward between the anterior edge of the ethmoidal labyrinths and the frontal processes of the maxillae are the lacrimal bones. Atop the frontal process the pyramid of the central third of the face is closed by the nasal bones as they join