Isolated favorable compound mandibular body fractures: A retrospective review of two cohorts of patients based on the timing of treatment.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Treatment delays in the management of mandible fractures are often unavoidable and, as a result, the timing of treatment of mandibular fractures has remained a contentious issue in clinical practice as the optimal treatment delay for minimizing complications remains unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the rate and types of complications between two cohorts of patients designated as early and late treatment groups and estimate an optimal time threshold for treatment delay after closed reduction and maxillomandibular fixation.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Demographic and clinical data were collected retrospectively about patients who were treated for isolated, unilateral, favorable, and compound mandibular body fractures between 1999 and 2019 to answer the question of whether treatment delay is an independent variable impacting post-operative mandible body fracture complications. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were computed.

RESULTS: One hundred and seventy subjects were evaluated (n = 87 in the control/early group and n = 83 in the study/late group). The mean time lapses from injury to treatment were: early (5.8 ± 0.4 days) and late (10.3 ± 0.7 days). The overall complication rate was 14.1%. However, the complication rates of the early and late groups were 13.8% and 14.5%, respectively, with no significant difference (p = 0.89).

CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference between early and late treatment groups. Treatment delay was not an independent variable impacting post-operative mandible body fracture complications if treatment is done between 3 and 12 days after the injury.