RESEARCH ARTICLE
Conservative Approach to Unilateral Condylar Fracture in a Growing Patient: A 2.5-Year Follow Up
Elif Bahar Tuna1, *, Aysun Dündar1, Abdülkadir Burak Çankaya 2, Koray Gençay 1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2012Volume: 6
First Page: 1
Last Page: 4
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-6-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874210601206010001
Article History:
Received Date: 28/9/2011Revision Received Date: 11/11/2011
Acceptance Date: 22/11/2011
Electronic publication date: 12/1/2012
Collection year: 2012
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Condylar fractures in children are especially important because of the risk of a mandibular growth-center being affected in the condylar head, which can lead to growth retardation and facial asymmetry. The purpose of this article is to follow up the two and half year clinical and radiological evaluation of the conservative treatment of a 10 year-old patient, who had a unilateral green-stick type fracture. The patient presented with painful facial swelling localized over the left condylar region, limited mouth-opening and mandibular deviation to the left. Panoramic radiography and computed tomography confirmed the diagnosis of incomplete fracture on the left condyle with one side of the bone fractured and the other bent. Closed reduction was chosen to allow for initial fibrous union of the fracture segments and remodeling with a normal functional stimulus. A non-rigid mandibular splint was applied in order to remove the direct pressure on the fracture side of the mandible. Clinical and radiologic examination after 30 months revealed uneventful healing with reduction of the condylar head and remodeling of the condylar process following conservative treatment.
