FRACTURES of the mandibular condyle require prompt and accurate treatment if serious irregularities in mandibular function are to be avoided.
The incidence1-3 of condylar fractures has been reported at widely differing levels as 6% of mandibular fractures in a series by Edgerton and Hill,1 up to 36% in a series by Hagan and Huelke,2 with other reports in between. The Edgerton-Hill series covered 434 fractures and the Hagan-Huelke series was 319 cases.
Desault, in a treatise on fractures in 1805, stated that restoration of condylar fragments secondary to fracture was important because failure to do so might end in a nonunion of fragments. The end result of this might render the condyle irregular and deformed, which could impede function of the jaw.
A posttreatment survey of 120 cases of mandibular condyle fracture was carried out by the Chalmers J. Lyons Club in a report in 1947. Condyle