Ma. Kuriakose et al., A COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF 266 MANDIBULAR FRACTURES WITH INTERNAL-FIXATION USING RIGID (AO ASIF) PLATES OR MINI-PLATES/, British journal of oral & maxillofacial surgery, 34(4), 1996, pp. 315-321
This study compares the internal fixation of mandibular fractures usin
g either rigid 2.7 mm AO/ASIF plates or mini-plates, In the rigid plat
e group, 88 fractures were fixed with 88 plates, In the mini-plate gro
up, 116 fractures were fixed with 170 plates, All the cases were conse
cutive and were treated in two South Wales hospitals during a 3-year p
eriod from 1988 to 1991. The aetiology of injury, timing of surgery, s
ite of fracture, antibiotic policy and demographic features were evenl
y distributed between the two groups but there was a higher incidence
of females in the mini-plate group. Both plating systems were successf
ul in restoring functional occlusion, Rigid plates avoided the use of
postoperative elastics better than mini-plates but the difference was
not significant, There was a significantly higher incidence (P=0.013)
of infection in the mini-plate (12.9%) compared with the rigid plate (
2.3%) group but 7.9% of the rigid group developed facial nerve weaknes
s, A significantly higher proportion of mini-plates needed to be remov
ed (P=0.00019), A better treatment outcome for angle and comminuted fr
actures was noted with rigid plates.