Intermaxillary fixation following mandibular resection.

This report concerns 14 patients who were treated by use of immediate intermaxillary fixation after segmental resection of the mandible to eradicate cancerous lesions. Mandibular resection usually produces problems in surgical and prosthetic reconstruction. The use of intermaxillary fixation during the first 6 postoperative weeks will reduce the degree of deviation. In mandibular resection for edentulous patients, the original dentures were used postoperatively with slight modification or no modification at all. With fixation and encouragement of early functional movement of the mandible, the dentulous patients showed a lesser degree of deviation. Some of the patients of the latter group used guide flange prostheses during the postoperative period to return the mandible to the centric position. Edentulous patients who deviated slightly were fitted with a maxillary ramp which guided the mandibular segment, after the initial contact, into the proper centric relation.