BACKGROUND: The high rate of complications led us to develop a new osteosynthesis plate for the treatment of the fractured atrophied mandible. The development of the new so-called pencil-bone plate is based on the 2.0 mini-plate system manufactured by the Medartis Company. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Finite elements (FE) analysis of the new plate as well as flexibility experiments were undertaken, and 14 patients with 16 fractures of the atrophied mandible were treated with the pencil-bone plate between October 2000 and November 2001. RESULTS: The results clearly show that the pencil-bone plate reacted in both the FE model and the static flexibility experiment in a more stable way than a standard 2.0 plate. In 13 patients, healing proceeded without serious complications; all of the patients showed subjective, nearly unchanged chewing, speaking, and swallowing abilities and no complications occurred when wearing dentures. One patient underwent surgical intervention after a new trauma. CONCLUSION: The clinical outcome of the treated fractures confirmed the experimental results, which proved the high stability of the plate in the area of the fracture site. Due to the mini-plate format the intraoral application of the plate is possible without problems. The intraoral access allows rapid operation followed by a minimum of morbidity. A great advantage of the small dimension system is the unrestricted wearing of dentures after the application.
BACKGROUND: The high rate of complications led us to develop a new osteosynthesis plate for the treatment of the fractured atrophied mandible. The development of the new so-called pencil-bone plate is based on the 2.0 mini-plate system manufactured by the Medartis Company. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Finite elements (FE) analysis of the new plate as well as flexibility experiments were undertaken, and 14 patients with 16 fractures of the atrophied mandible were treated with the pencil-bone plate between October 2000 and November 2001. RESULTS: The results clearly show that the pencil-bone plate reacted in both the FE model and the static flexibility experiment in a more stable way than a standard 2.0 plate. In 13 patients, healing proceeded without serious complications; all of the patients showed subjective, nearly unchanged chewing, speaking, and swallowing abilities and no complications occurred when wearing dentures. One patient underwent surgical intervention after a new trauma. CONCLUSION: The clinical outcome of the treated fractures confirmed the experimental results, which proved the high stability of the plate in the area of the fracture site. Due to the mini-plate format the intraoral application of the plate is possible without problems. The intraoral access allows rapid operation followed by a minimum of morbidity. A great advantage of the small dimension system is the unrestricted wearing of dentures after the application.
Authors: Henrique do Couto de Oliveira; Valfrido Antonio Pereira-Filho; Eduardo Hochuli-Vieira; Marisa Aparecida Cabrini Gabrielli; Mario Francisco Real Gabrielli Journal: J Maxillofac Oral Surg Date: 2012-11-27