Page 117 - Open versus closed Mandibular condyle fractures

Clinical outcome in treatment of unilateral condylar fractures
In the expectative group, three patients (12.5%) had an objective malocclusion and 17 (70.8%) had a stable occlusion. The occlusion could not be quantified in four patients (16.7%). Subjectively, four patients (16.7%) had a malocclusion, one (4.2%) had changed or mediocre occlusion, and 18 (75.0%) had a good occlusion; occlusion could not be quantified in one patient. In the conservative group, one patient (2.8%) had a malocclusion and 33 patients (91.7%) had a stable occlusion. The occlusion could not be quantified in two patients (5.6%). In three patients (8.3%), subjective occlusion was defined as compromised, in seven patients (19.4%) as changed or mediocre, and in 25 (69.4%) as good; occlusion could not be quantified in one patient.
There was no significant difference in objective (P = 0.729) or subjective (P = 0.846) occlusion between the open and closed treatment groups for those with unilateral fractures (Table 1).
Table 1. Subjective and objective occlusion per treatment (unilateral fractures)
Subjective
Good Mediocre/changed Bad
Not determined Objective
Stable occlusion Malocclusion
Not determined
a Chi-Square test
Deviation
Open treatment (n = 10)
8 1 1 0
9 1 0
Closed treatment (n = 48)
34 8 4 2
41 3 4
P-value a
0.846
0.729
4.1
With regard to MMO, four patients in the open treatment group (28.6%) had a deviation of more than 2 mm, while 10 (71.4%) demonstrated no deviation. In the closed treatment group, 26 patients (44.8%) demonstrated deviation and 32 (55.2%) did not. On comparing the open and closed treatment groups, these results were not significant (P = 0.236).
MFIQ
The MFIQ did not have a normal distribution (P = 0.000). The mean MFIQ score in patients with unilateral fractures in the open treatment group was 10.70 (standard error 2.9), while the mean score in the closed group was 4.96 (standard error 1.3). The difference in MFIQ between the open and closed treatment groups in the patients with unilateral fractures was statistically significant (P = 0.023).
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