Summary
Third molar surgery is the most common surgical procedure in the oral cavity. Whenever extraction is indicated, careful planning based on clinical and radiographic examinations is essential to guard against postoperative complications like: bleeding, alveolitis, infections, injury to adjacent teeth, oroantral communications, or even mandibular fractures. Although rare, the risk of postoperative mandibular fractures after third molar impaction surgery is related to some factors. Our case report a 50-year-old white female patient with a complaint of pain in the region of the left mandibular angle and stated that three weeks before she had the left mandibular third molar extracted, which computerized tomographic confirmed the presence of a fracture in the mandibular angle. However, our report contributes to showing the predisposing factors to cause this injury after a review of the literature, showing the clinician what they should take like consideration when they indicate the extraction of third molars. To avoid this complication, factors like bony impaction, depth of tooth within bone, proximity to the inferior dental canal, tooth position in relation to adjacent teeth, the presence of root dilacerations and others must be taken into account. A case of late mandibular fracture that occurred 21 days after third molar extraction is reported. Conservative treatment was adopted and after six-months of radiographic and clinical follow-up, the patient had fully preserved mandibular function, normal occlusion and no discomfort.
KEY WORDS: third molar, extraction, Mandibular fracture, late complication.
How to cite this article
ANDRADE, V. C.; NETO, P. J. O.; DE MORAES, M. & ASPRINO, L. Late mandibular angle fracture after impacted third molar extraction – case report and review of predisposing factors. Int. J. Odontostomat., 7(2):287-292, 2013.
