[Submental intubation in maxillofacial traumatology].

Introduction: Free access to the upper respiratory tract may be a challenge for the management of severe facial trauma. Tracheotomy is routinely used in this case. Submental intubation is little used, but it is an alternative to tracheotomy.

Material And Method: A retrospective study was made over 1 year. Sixteen patients with facial smash were included. Patients who had undergone an immediate tracheotomy or a long-term intubation were excluded. Submental intubation was used in all patients with the same protocol. The studied data was: operative time, duration of ventilator disconnection, postoperative complications, and scar assessment.

Results: The average operative time was seven minutes. No speech disorder, hematoma, or postoperative infection was observed. The scar was barely visible in 13 cases out of 16.

Discussion: Submental intubation seems to be a reliable, simple and easy to learn technique. A perfect knowledge of the local anatomy allows opening the airway without any risk of hematoma. Incision packing reduces the bacterial inoculum and infectious risk. The residual scarring is minimal.