IMPALEMENT INJURIES OF THE PALATE IN CHILDREN

Twenty-one children with impalement injury of the palate have been tre ated in the past seven years. Sixteen of them were treated by primary surgical repair, and the remaining five patients were managed conserva tively after ascertaining that there was no perforation. All the wound s healed satisfactorily without any post-operative complications. It h as hence been emphasized that though serious complications are known t o occur, they are extremely rare, unlike the feeling one gets while go ing through the literature.