Condylar Fractures: Surgical Versus Conservative Management

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Condylar fractures can be treated with one of the two methods, including the conservative (closed reduction and immobilization) and/or surgical (open reduction and internal fixation) methods. Both these modalities of treatment have their indications and contraindications and merits and demerits. The present study was designed with the purpose of comparing the outcomes of surgical versus conservative management of moderately displaced subcondylar and condylar neck fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study included a total of 20 patients with moderately displaced condylar fractures in patients > 18 years of age who were randomly divided into nonsurgical and surgical group and were managed accordingly. In the present study, the outcomes of conservative versus surgical management of subcondylar and condylar neck fractures were discussed in terms of seven parameters, including the maximal interincisal mouth opening, protrusive and lateral excursive movements of the mandible, status of occlusion, deviation of mandible during mouth opening, pain (in terms of visual analog scale) and the height of ascending ramus (radiographically) which were measured and evaluated pre- and post-operatively at different intervals of time. The follow-up was done for a period of up to 6 weeks postoperatively. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Descriptive and analytical statistics were calculated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 19. The Mann–Whitney U-test was used to assess the significance of the difference between the groups, whereas the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess the significance of the difference between the paired observations in each group. RESULTS: Patients treated surgically showed better improvement in maximal interincisal mouth opening, lateral excursions with minimal deviation, early relief from pain, and restoration of height of the ramus with symmetry in comparison with the patients managed conservatively where prolonged periods of pain apart from obvious deviation and minimal restoration of height of the ramus was observed over a follow-up period of 6 weeks postoperatively. The results were also found to be statistically significant with the value of P < 0.05. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: Surgery is inarguably preferred over conservative management of moderately displaced condylar fractures as per the results of the present study. The present study provided valuable information and mandated further studies with larger sample sizes to come to definitive conclusions.