Fractures of the edentulous mandible: a retrospective review

Treatment of edentulous mandibular fractures has remained somewhat controversial. A recent review of the literature showed that a number of techniques have been proposed with varying degrees of success. It was my clinical impression that I encountered an extremely high proportion of complications when caring for these injuries. For this reason, I performed a retrospective chart review of all patients with a diagnosis of mandibular fractures admitted to the University of California, Davis, Medical Center during the period July 1, 1989 to June 30, 1991. A total of 11 patients of 349 admissions were found to have edentulous mandibular fractures (3%). They were treated with a variety of techniques, including splints or dentures, intraosseous wire fixation, or rigid internal fixation with miniplates and screws. Successful results were obtained with each technique; however, the overall complication rate was 18% (2 patients), which was consistent with my overall results for the treatment of mandibular fractures. I recommend that no one technique is applicable to each fracture and that treatment must be individualized.