Fractured Upper / Lower Jaw secondary to Tooth Removal
Incidence: 2 - 4% (including alveolar and lingual plate fractures, so the incidence of actual fractures of the upper and lower jaws is likely to be much less).
This is probably the most feared of all complications following Minor Oral Surgery and like the majority of them is largely preventable. It is a recognised complication of lower wisdom tooth removal and should be listed as such on a routine consent form.
Fracture of the mandible / lower jaw is a very unpleasant but fortunately rare complication that is associated almost exclusively with the extraction of impacted lower wisdom teeth.
There are a number of predisposing conditions, such as:
use of excessive force with the dental elevator, when an adequate pathway for removal of the impacted tooth has not been created