Affiliation:
1. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Saraswati Dental College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Abstract
Introduction The management of facial trauma is one of the most challenging aspects for maxillofacial surgeons. The prominent position and configuration of the mandible make it one of the most frequent facial bones to be fractured. Open reduction and internal fixation are the preferred treatment methods for mandibular fractures. Objective To compare the effect of three-dimensional (3D) plates and conventional miniplates for internal fixation of anterior mandibular fractures. Material and Method This was a controlled and randomized clinical trial. A total of 14 patients aged between 21 and 50 years, who had symphyseal or parasymphyseal mandibular fractures, were randomly selected for this study from the outpatient clinic of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department. In this study, open reduction and internal fixation were performed for mandibular symphyseal and parasymphyseal region fractures using 3D plates in 7 patients as the study group and miniplates in 7 patients as the control group. Patients were followed for a period of 3 months at the interval of 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 3 months for wound dehiscence, infection segmental mobility, postoperative occlusion, significant postoperative complications, and radiological evaluation of reduction, and fixation was done with a postoperative orthopantamogram (OPG) and 6 months postop computed tomography scan. Result There was no statistical difference between the 2 groups regarding pain, sensory response, operating time, occlusion, postoperative infection, wound dehiscence, mobility of fracture segment, and bone healing.