Degloving injury of the mandible

A young boy fell off his bicycle, striking his face on the pavement. On arrival in the emergency department, his only apparent injuries were facial abrasions; however, further examination of his oral cavity revealed that the soft tissues overlying the mandible had been stripped from the bone. Oral Surgery was consulted and the patient was taken to the operating room, where debridement and primary closure of the wound was performed under general anesthesia. Soft tissue injuries that result from a shearing or stripping force are termed degloving injuries, which are described best in relation to injuries of the hand, although other body parts can be involved. We report the case of a degloving injury of the mandible, an injury that has not been reported previously.