Evaluation of the effectiveness of early or delayed treatment upon healing of mandibular fractures: A retrospective study

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to assess the impacts of delay treatment of mandibular fracture and its complications. In addition risk variables related such as time to repair, fracture types, substance abuse, causes, surgical management, muddling or complications and duration of clinic stay were also evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data of patients attending the Newcastle General Hospital, UK for the management of mandibular fractures were probed. This retrospective clinical trial conducted over 6 months, included 91 patients attending trauma operating theatre during weekdays or weekends. Data were analyzed for time to admission and treatment and its relationships to various factors using SPSS version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). RESULTS: Time to treatment from the point of admission was 31.50 ± 3.83 h during week days that has been significantly more for patients attending the hospital at weekends or nights. Similar trend was observed for total summative time from the incident to treatment analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation has demonstrated that the rate of infection and postoperative complications following surgical treatment of mandible fractures can be eased off by reducing the waiting time from presentation to the emergency and to the operating theater.