Recommendations for a safe restart of elective aerosol-generating oral surgery procedures following the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak: An Italian multicenter study.

Among healthcare workers, oral and maxillofacial surgeons are some of the most exposed to coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The aim of this retrospective study was to develop suggestions for continuing the work of oral and maxillofacial surgeons using a safe protocol for elective and urgent aerosol-generating procedures that could prevent the onset of new clusters. Based on the results obtained and a guidelines review of those Asian countries that had promptly managed the current pandemic, the following safety protocol was developed.

Complications and post-operative sequelae of temporomandibular joint arthrocentesis.

OBJECTIVE:  To evaluate intraoperative complications and postsurgical sequelae associated with arthrocentesis of the TMJ, including injection of Sodium Hyaluronate. METHODS: This retrospective study evaluated 433 arthrocentesis procedures performed in 315 patients between January 2009 and August 2016. The authors reviewed the complications identified during the procedure and the follow-up period. RESULTS: Temporary swelling of the periarticular tissues (95.1%) or the external auditory canal (23.5%), ipsilateral temporary open bite (68.8%), frontalis and orbicularis oculis paresis (65.1%), preauricular hematoma (0.4%), and a case of vertigo (0.2%) were the complications detected. CONCLUSIONS: TMJ arthrocentesis remains a procedure with a minimum number of important complications. If present, complications are generally temporary, caused by the anesthetic effect or by the soft tissue edema created by the fluid extravasation created by the irrigation procedure, and can be managed on an outpatient basis.

An aesthetically possible alternative approach for craniomaxillofacial trauma: the "pretrichial incision".

Frontal sinus and supraorbital rim fractures are common in facial trauma patients. Coronal incision is the standard approach for surgical management of these injuries. Nevertheless, with this incision, complications can occur as wide scars and alopecia. Because surgical repair of fronto-orbital fractures is often indicated for aesthetic reasons, surgical incision might be an "aesthetic incision." So we have adopted the pretrichial incision, already used in brow-lift and foreheadplasty but never described in craniomaxillofacial trauma surgery. Nineteen upper-third facial trauma patients were treated: five cases were approached via an existing laceration, four cases via a coronal incision, and 10 cases via a unilateral zigzag pretrichial incision. To assess the postsurgical scar, the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale was used and the scar's width was measured. In all cases, a wide surgical field was obtained to perform correct fracture reduction. Unlike straight or stealth coronal incisions, with pretrichial incision no wide scar or alopecia was registered. We think that pretrichial incision is an aesthetically reasonable alternative to the standard coronal approach for craniomaxillofacial trauma patients.

Complications of mandibular reconstruction in childhood: Report of a case of Juvenile Aggressive Fibromatosis.

Juvenile aggressive fibromatosis is an acquired disease affecting young children. There are two types: superficial and deep; the first is not aggressive whilst the second invades other tissues deeply. This is a case report of the deep variant of juvenile aggressive fibromatosis of the lateral mandible affecting a 24-month-old young female patient. The tumour has been treated surgically by resection of the mandible and reconstruction with a rib-graft. To by-passs resorption of the rib-graft and to re-establish the correct three-dimensional shape of the facial skeleton, osteodistraction of the reconstructed mandible was performed six months post-peratively. In this article the surgical techniques to reconstruct the mandible in young children are discussed.