Maxillary Fracture Treatment | Maxillary Bone Fracture Surgery

There are many types of facial fractures that could happen to the facial skeleton. There is a possibility of zygomatic fractures happening to a person who has just been punched hard in the face or has his head banged with blunt force on a hard surface. Zygomaticomaxillary fractures can also happen. These ZMC fractures are almost similar to maxillary factures due to the fact that the broken or cracked bone happens to be found on the facial skeleton. If not assaults, the common reason why these types of bone fracture happen is motor vehicle accidents. Sternum fractures also happen due to broken rib after the body of a person has been slammed against the seat belt during a high impact collision with another car or with the lamp post and other fixtures on the street.

Bones are not really vulnerable elements in the body but they need to be really strong against high impact force. One of the types of facial skeleton fracture would be the maxillary fracture. This is a type of fractured jaw that specifically breaks the immovable bones or maxilla in the jaw. There is also the mandible fracture that happens when the movable jaw bones or mandilla break.

Maxillary Fracture Anatomy

The maxilla supports the upper teeth and does so until those parts near the eyes. Thus, when a fracture injury happens to the maxillary bone, the patient might also break the maxillary teeth. In some cases, removing the wisdom teeth might even be necessary. If the damage of the fracture is severe, a broken jaw surgery would have to be done. The break on this immovable jaw bone might also lead to the maxillary sinus fracture. The best tip would be to avoid any types of facial injury because once maxillary fractures happen there are many other parts on the facial skeleton that will undoubtedly be affected. For instance, zygomaticomaxillary complex facture might also occur. Other associated injuries would prompt the patients to find immediate maxillary fracture treatment to avoid the discomfort.

The mandible bone or the movable jaw bone supports the lower teeth. This is also the only movable bone in the facial skeleton, which is responsible for the opening of the mouth when eating, talking, or laughing. This is also connected to the skull with a hinged joint. The jaw is kept attached to the skull by strong muscles. If there is a fracture of skull, this might affect the way you speak, laugh, or eat.

When a maxillary wall fracture happens, this might also result to maxillary bone fracture as well as fractures in the face, neck, and back. Maxillary spine fracture could be an offshoot of a low impact or high impact fracture on the jaw bone. According to a study, about 20 percent of low impact and as high as 50 percent of all high impact maxillary alveolar fracture also come with other major injuries. Who would know that even as small as a crack in the jaw bone would already be a very big problem for the patient?

Maxillary Fracture Causes

Maxillary tuberosity fracture and the other types of immovable jaw bone fracture are caused by a strong blow to the face. In most cases, the first facial fracture that would happen would be a broken nasal bone or fractured maxillary sinus. Thus, a broken jaw bone would only likely happen next to nose fracture. Motor vehicle accidents are pointed out as the major cause of the maxillary fractures, as they account for 43 percent of all the types of fractures. Assaults come next, which accounts for 34 percent for all the broken maxillary bones. Other causes consist of sports, falls, bike accidents, and work related injuries, which all account for seven percent.

People at Risk

The people who are bound to experience maxillary lateral incisor and other similar jaw bone fractures are those who are aged 20 to 29 years of age. Men are more prone to experiencing this type of fractured maxillary bone. By looking at the given age range for people at risk to jawbone fracture, parents might be less worried about maxillary fracture in children.

Diagnosis

Severe head trauma can cause a break on the mandible or maxilla in the jaw bone. As a result, the patient might be knocked out unconscious or might not be able to talk immediately. The doctor would need all the details of the events that lead to the accident which caused the maxillary injury. Thus, the patient should have an escort who would be able to tell the story or the doctor might need to wait for the patient to talk. With consciousness as an issue, the doctor would check the mental status, hearing, vision, and positioning of the teeth of the patients.

Maxillary Fracture Fracture Symptoms

Pain is a dominant feeling during a break in the jaw bone. This sensation would center on the jaw largely. The patient might have some problems speaking with teeth that do not come together normally. Others might not be able to open their jaw. Another physical sign of the fracture of maxilla would be swelling on the jaw. By simply doing a biting down motion, pain would shoot all over the jaw. Some parts of the face would also feel tingly or numb, particularly the chin or lower lip. This could signify nerve damage on these areas. Bleeding on the mouth or nose of the patient might happen as well. First aid treatment should be administered while the doctor is contacted. These are the common maxillary fracture symptoms that a patient would feel. These should also signal rushing to the hospital for immediate check up to know what maxillary sinus fracture treatment should be done to help ease the pain and discomfort of the patient. This does not mean though that maxillofacial jaw surgery is necessary in all cases of jaw bone breaks.

Maxillary Fracture Diagnostic Tests

Lab tests are necessary for accurate fracture diagnosis. A panoramic radiograph has to be done in order to see the entire mandible in one shot. If the result is not enough, a CT scan would also be done.  This can give images of the coronal and axis planes, along with an image of the mandible.

In patient with maxillofacial trauma, plain radiographic tests might not help. Instead, a CT scan should be performed well to show all the parts of the jaw and the fractures of the skull. If there is a broken tooth, chest radiography is necessary to check if some chipped tooth and other dental hardware can be found near the chest.

Maxillary Fracture Treatment

The fractured jaw should be immobilized in order to stop the bleeding, relieve the pain, and to avoid displacing the fragments of the jaw even more. However, before the doctor will treat maxillary fracture, the patient should be evaluated and stabilized first. Medicines like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, local anesthetics, and narcotics are taken by the patient. There are emedicine stores online where these medications can be bought. A patient with fractures in the middle of the facial skeleton should take antibiotics. In some cases, tetanus immunization might be necessary. The maxillary fracture treatment should be done to reestablish the occlusion.

Minimally displaced fractures would only have nonoperative therapy. Dressings have to be made for better comfort of the patients. Another way on how to treat maxillary fracture quick would be minimal occlusal load.

Other methods on how to heal maxillary fracture would be through closed or open reduction. The aims of these treatments would be avoid fracture complications, reduce fracture segments, and restore occlusion.

Maxillomandibular fixation might be used to treat some types of maxillary fractures that are classified as Le Fort I fractures. However, some cases would need more complex surgical treatment to best heal the patient.

Maxillary Fracture Rehabilitation

Fracture healing time might take weeks, which means that rehabilitation would not be done until the fracture is nearing complete recovery. Rehab depends on the severity of the fracture, its stability, and location. The age of the patient would also have to be taken into consideration. Early mobilization and shorter maxillary fracture recovery time would be possible for patients with stable fractures. This does not even need postoperative jaw wiring.