Retaining or Extracting a Tooth in the Line of Mandibular Fracture — a Study

The purpose of the study was to compare the treatment outcome of extractions and nonextractions of teeth in the lines of mandibular fractures and to determine the most common complications. A Quasi-experimental study was undertaken in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery, Khyber college of Dentistry Peshawar from January 2007 to January 2008. A total of 100 patients having tooth in the line of mandibular fracture were recruited in the study. The patients were divided into two groups of 50 patients each. In Group A the tooth was retained in the line of fracture, and while in Group B the tooth was extracted. Each patient was evaluated for postoperative results and the differences between them assessed. Statistical analysis included chi-square test. Results were considered significant if p d” 0.05. Majority of the patients were young adults. The most common site was parasymphysis while the most commonly involved teeth in the fracture line were incisors. The major operative morbidity proved to be infection followed by malunion and maloclusion. Both groups were not different in relation to postoperative infection (P= 0.461), malocclusion (P= 0.5577), malunion (P= 0.5577) delayed union and non-union. There was no significant difference in the outcome between the extraction and non-extraction of a tooth in the line of fracture.