Concepts and Challenges in the Surgical Management of Edentulous Mandible Fractures: A Case Series

Abstract

Functional rehabilitation of complex edentulous or atrophic mandibular fractures is surgically demanding. The high incidence of bone fractures in geriatric age group is secondary to the loss of bone mineral content with age. So far, there is no consensus regarding the best treatment for repair of fractures of the severely atrophic mandible. Thus, the choice of treatment for such fractures should be based on the degree of atrophy, considering its inverse relationship to the amount of rigid fixation required. Hence, open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) is considered to be a reliable method for treating the edentulous mandible fractures. The authors present a case series of patients treated with ORIF with load bearing (LB; reconstruction plate) and load sharing (LS; miniplates) principles. No complications related to infection, plate exposure, fibrous union, nonunion, and trismus, were observed.