[Vegetable foreign body of the infratemporal fossa: a case report]. / Corps étranger végétal de la fosse infratemporale.

INTRODUCTION: Limited amplitude of mouth opening due to a foreign body in the infratemporal fossa is a rare event. We report a trismus due to a foreign body of vegetable origin located in the infratemporal fossa. OBSERVATION: A 44-year-old female patient presented with a left endobuccal wound made by an oak branch. Limited amplitude of mouth opening was noted on clinical examination. A first CT scan did not reveal any foreign body. Despite an adequate treatment, the patient presented with acute cellulitis. A second CT scan revealed a parapharyngeal and masticatory compartment collection. One month after drainage, the patient spontaneously rejected the vegetable foreign bodies. An MRI better investigated the lesional diagnosis and the patient underwent surgery for the third time. DISCUSSION: Discovering foreign bodies in the infratemporal fossa is unusual. CT scan is a useful but limited tool if foreign bodies are small and/or of weak density. MRI is the reference examination.

[Maxillofacial metastasis of a cholangiocarcinoma]. / Métastase maxillofaciale d'un cholangiocarcinome.

OBSERVATION: A 64-year-old woman with a history of cholangiocarcinoma, presented with painful cheek-swelling and ulcerated lesion of the lower jaw. There were lytic bone lesions of the mandible. Histological examination revealed cholangiocarcinoma metastasis. Surgery was impossible because of the primitive tumor's extension. The patient then received palliative treatment with radiotherapy - and chemotherapy. She died 13 months after the initial diagnosis. DISCUSSION: Maxillofacial metastasis generally occur in the mandible. Although adenocarcinomas are often observed, cholangiocarcinoma has never been reported as maxillofacial metastasis. The prognosis of cholangiocarcinoma is bad because of a usually late diagnosis.

[Perception of maxillofacial surgery and stomatology in France]. / Perception de la chirurgie maxillofaciale et de la stomatologie en France.

INTRODUCTION: The authors wanted to know how stomatology and maxillofacial surgery were perceived by general practitioners, dentists, and the patients. A study was made on the model of two studies made in 1994 and 2005 in Great Britain and one in 1996 in the United States. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Four thousand and one hundred and fifty questionnaires were mailed. Six hundred and ninety-three to general practitioners, 690 to dental practitioners, and 2770 to the public. Practitioners were chosen randomly, in equal number in each of 22 administrative regions of metropolitan France. RESULTS: One hundred and fifteen physicians answered (16.6%), 130 dentists answered (18.8%). The practitioners sent back 180 questionnaires completed by their patients (6.5%). These results, higher than the ones reported in the above-mentioned studies, allowed determining the perception of maxillofacial surgery and stomatology in France. This study showed that we are, in the eye of the public, specialists of temporomandibular joint disorders, fractures of the face, but also of orthognatic surgery, cleft lip and palate, cancer of the oral cavity, and implantology. This study also showed that maxillofacial surgeons are the major referents for odontologists whereas they remained less acknowledged by general practitioners. DISCUSSION: The maxillofacial surgeon is in France the main correspondent of odontologists; he still has to convince general practitioners and the global population to be acknowledged as the surgeon of the "face". Our results correlate to published international data.