Treatment of Infected Fractures and Pseudarthrosis of the Mandible

Abstract

While there is no risk of osseous infection in conservatively treated closed fractures of the extremities, this is not true of mandibular fractures. The special anatomical situation of the mandible with an intra- and extraoral side, and the frequently occurring lacerations of the gingiva are responsible for the fact that most mandibular fractures are open fractures. This explains why the rate of infection in conservatively treated mandibular fractures is as high as in open fractures of the extremities. Infections in surgically treated fractures of the extremities are often attributable to the operative procedure itself, but this is by no means so often the case with operatively treated mandibular fractures.