Hyperplasia of the mandibular coronoid process: long-term follow-up after coronoidotomy

The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term results of treatment by intraoral coronoidotomy and prolonged physiotherapy in five patients with mandibular coronoid process hyperplasia. Five consecutive cases of coronoid process hyperplasia were studied (two unilateral and three bilateral) at the Department of Maxillo-facial Surgery of the University of Turin during the period 1985-1990. All patients were treated by intraoral coronoidotomy and given physiotherapy from the third postoperative day. This continued for an entire year. A clinical and radiological follow-up (average 39.4 months), in three cases over a 5-year period, was completed. Three months after the operation, all patients had achieved satisfactory improvement in mandibular interincisal opening. The mean value for mouth opening at the end of follow-up was 42 mm. Radiographic follow-up showed the presence of a coronoid process almost the size of the original, apparently united with the mandibular ascending ramus, with moderate dislocation and inclination posterior to the body of the zygomatic bone. The results of this study indicate that treatment of coronoid process hyperplasia by intraoral coronoidotomy, when combined with prolonged postoperative physiotherapy, gives satisfactory and stable long-term results in the correction of coronoid-malar interference.