Can Patients With Isolated Mandibular Fractures Be Treated as Outpatients?

Purpose: Treating mandibular fractures urgently is controversial. The purpose of this study was to estimate and compare the rates of postoperative inflammatory complications (POICs) in patients with isolated mandibular fractures treated in a nonurgent manner by an outpatient protocol versus a traditional, urgent inpatient protocol.

Patients And Methods: We implemented a retrospective cohort study and enrolled a sample of patients with isolated mandibular fractures treated with open reduction-internal fixation (ORIF).

Primary intraosseous mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the mandible: radiographic evolution and clinicopathological features.

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) can be rarely found as a primarily intraosseous lesion and mistaken for other intraosseous or odontogenic pathology. A 65-year-old man had a poorly defined radiolucency distal to the left mandibular second molar root. Periapical radiographs demonstrated a minor radiolucency from 2.

Geometry of anterior open bite correction.

Correction of anterior open bite is a frequently encountered and challenging problem for the craniomaxillofacial surgeon and orthodontist. Accurate clinical evaluation, including cephalometric assessment, is paramount for establishing the diagnosis and appropriate treatment plan. The purposes of this technical note were to discuss the basic geometric principles involved in the surgical correction of skeletal anterior open bites and to offer a simple mathematical model for predicting the amount of posterior maxillary impaction with concomitant mandibular rotation required to establish an adequate overbite.

Skeletal and soft tissue response to automated, continuous, curvilinear distraction osteogenesis.

Purpose: To document the bone formation and soft tissue changes in response to automated, continuous, curvilinear distraction osteogenesis (DO) at rates greater than 1 mm/day in a minipig model.

Materials And Methods: Two groups of Yucatan minipigs underwent automated, continuous, curvilinear DO of the right mandible: group A, 1.5 mm/day (n = 5); and group B, 3.

Effects of mandibular distraction osteogenesis on three-dimensional airway anatomy in children with congenital micrognathia.

Purpose: To assess the 3-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) changes in airway size and shape in children with congenital micrognathia treated by mandibular distraction osteogenesis (DO).

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients with congenital micrognathia, treated by mandibular DO, who had pre- and postoperative 3D maxillofacial CT scans from the hard palate to the hyoid bone. Digital 3D-CT reconstructions were made before and after distraction.

Mandibular fracture severity and patient health status are associated with postoperative inflammatory complications.

Purpose: To identify risk factors associated with postoperative inflammatory complications (POICs) after treatment of mandibular fractures.

Patients And Methods: The investigators designed a case-control study and enrolled a sample of patients treated for mandibular fractures at Massachusetts General Hospital between August 2004 and January 2010. Subjects who developed POICs after fracture management were categorized as cases.

Serial histologic and immunohistochemical changes in anterior digastric myocytes in response to distraction osteogenesis.

Purpose: To document histologic and immunohistochemical changes in the anterior digastric muscle during distraction osteogenesis (DO).

Materials And Methods: Nineteen Yucatan minipigs with mixed dentition were used for these experiments. Group A (n = 16) underwent unilateral mandibular distraction at a rate of 1 mm/day (no latency) for 12 days.

Histomorphometric analysis of the porcine mandibular distraction wound.

Purpose: To analyze the sequence of histomorphometric changes in the regenerate during distraction osteogenesis (DO) of the minipig mandible.

Materials And Methods: A total of 16 minipigs underwent unilateral mandibular DO using a protocol of 0-day latency and a 1-mm/day rate for 12 days, and 24 days of fixation. The mandibles were harvested at mid-DO, end-DO, mid-fixation, and end-fixation.