Original Articles
Surekha.K, Sudhakar Gudipalli,
Abstract
Aim of the study: This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of rectangular grid 3-d miniplates in the treatment of mandibular angle fractures.Methods: The study included 10 patients with mandibular angle fractures. A 2mm X 4hole titanium rectangular grid Miniplate was used to fix the fracture. Intraoral approach for fracture reduction and Transbuccal approach were used for plate fixation. Patients were evaluated for Fracture stability, Occlusion, Mouth opening, Complications like infection, plate loosening, plate fracture, malunion on 7th post operative day, 1st month, and 3rd month postoperatively.Results:Only one patient had mild occlusal derangement at end of the follow-up period of 3 months. One patient developed post-operative infection on the 7th post-operative day which resolved on antibiotic therapy. No cases of hardware failure were reported. All the patients had adequate mouth opening at the end of follow-up period.Conclusion: The rectangular grid miniplates used in this study were stable for the treatment of simple mandibular angle fractures with sufficient interfragmentary contact. The patients also had minimal complications. The armamentarium needed and cost of the hardware is also low. Further clinical studies with larger sample size are required to arrive at a more comprehensive conclusion about these plates.