Page 168 - Open versus closed Mandibular condyle fractures

Patients who were male, received physiotherapy, had no other mandibular fractures, and/or had satisfactory self-perceived occlusion were found to better masticatory performance. No significant difference in the Mixing Ability Index (MAI) was found between open and closed treatment.
No significant difference in condylar volume between the open and closed treatment methods was found. But, a larger condylar volume was associated with better chewing ability and patient gender and MMO influenced post-treatment condylar volumes. Overall, good results were achieved with both open and closed treatments.
Chapter 4.4 presents a promising alternative to the conventional pragmatic RCT, which is presently the golden standard for evaluating the effects of medical interventions. A RCT to address the question of ‘open versus closed’ has been proven to be challenging in terms of logistics, planning, and costs.45 A cohort multiple RCT approach, which is designed to facilitate randomized trials for pragmatic evaluation of interventions,45,51 may be a feasible research option.
Summary
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6.1