Healing of dentate or edentulous mandibular fractures treated with rigid or semirigid plate fixation--an experimental study in dogs

Abstract

The right mandibles of 40 dogs were fractured with a bending clamp, at a site being either dentate or edentulous, and treated with compression-plates or miniplates. After 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24 weeks the mandibles were examined by microradiography and histology. Some variation in the healing mode within the groups was observed, interindividual as well as intra-individual in different layers of the same mandible. Generally, healing displayed slightly more time-related progression with compression plates compared with miniplates and similarly in dentate fracture sites when compared with edentulous ones. The so-called indirect healing mode through cartilaginous callus was found to take place in the group with miniplates and edentulous fracture sites, whereas in the three other groups a type of direct bone healing through woven bone in the presence of more or less callus could be observed. The conclusions drawn from these findings are: that compression plates as well as miniplates are suitable for treatment of mandibular fractures in dogs, and the presence of teeth appears to exert a stabilizing effect on the fracture.