Alloplastic augmentation of the mandibular angle.

Purpose: This article describes the use of a large-pore polyethylene implant for mandibular angle augmentation.

Patients And Methods: Patients with severe facial deformities who had previously undergone multiple surgical procedures and were now seeking esthetic improvement were included in this series. Their deficient mandibular angles and reduced ramus height were corrected with polyethylene implants appropriately sculptured and fixed to the mandible through extraoral incisions that preexisted in most patients.

Blood supply to the oral and maxillofacial tissues following radiation therapy: a prospective ultrasonographic study.

In this prospective clinical study of the early radiation effects on blood supply to the mouth and face, 44 patients (31 men-13 women, mean age 63.4 yrs) with oral tumors underwent surgery and adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy with conventional fractionation (mean dose at the neck approximately equal to 50 Gy). Blood flow parameters 1 cm below the bifurcation of the common carotid artery (mean velocity time averaged, lumen diameter, resistivity index-RI) as well as perivascular reaction, were recorded on Color Doppler Imaging video tapes in a series of five consecutive examinations up to six months postirradiation.

Lingual thyroid: a new surgical approach--a case report.

Ectopic lingual thyroid is a rare developmental anomaly, presenting in the adult with obstructive symptoms during respiration, deglutition and speech. The main therapeutic issue after exact diagnosis is the restoration of thyroid function, and surgical intervention, when necessary, has to deal with problems related to the site and function of the ectopic gland. A case of a 25-year-old female with dyspnoea and dysphagia due to a 3 x 4 cm ectopic lingual thyroid, excised by an original peroral approach via a mandibular midline osteotomy, is reported.