Mandibular thickness measurements in young dentate adults.

OBJECTIVE: To measure thicknesses in clinical landmark areas of the dentate mandibles of young men and women. DESIGN: Using standard radiologic software, we obtained mean (SD) thickness measurements at the inferior or posterior borders of the mandible at the following 7 surgically useful sites: (1) the symphysis, (2) a point halfway between the symphysis and the mental nerve, (3) the mental nerve, (4) a point halfway between the mental nerve and the facial artery notch, (5) the facial artery notch, (6) the angle vertex, and (7) the ramus-condylar neck border. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 150 dentate men and 75 dentate women aged 18 to 30 years who had undergone computed tomography of the head and neck region during the period of December 20, 2006 to February 20, 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Thicknesses of 7 mandibular sites. RESULTS: Mean (SD) thicknesses at the 7 mandibular sites were as follows: symphysis, 14.03 (1.53) mm for men and 13.21 (1.46) mm for women; halfway between the symphysis and the mental nerve, 11.17 (1.37) mm for men and 10.00 (1.08) mm for women; mental nerve, 9.48 (1.28) mm for men and 8.72 (1.00) mm for women; halfway between the mental nerve and the facial artery notch, 10.33 (1.24) mm for men and 9.45 (0.92) mm for women; facial artery notch, 7.27 (0.82) mm for men and 7.10 (0.88) mm for women; angle vertex, 5.42 (0.90) mm for men and 5.39 (0.66) mm for women; and ramus-condylar neck border, 5.90 (0.86) mm for men and 5.85 (0.71) mm for women. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical landmark areas in young dentate mandibles have mean thicknesses with limited SDs. The thickness measurements obtained at the sites in this study provide practical reference information for mandibular reconstruction and bicortical screw length estimation.

Report of a scalp arteriovenous malformation spontaneously hemorrhaging into a preauricular sinus.

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the scalp are rare congenital lesions that can be extremely disfiguring and even life-threatening. Another congenital lesion is the preauricular sinus, which forms when the auricular hillocks fail to fuse. We present a case of an AVM of the scalp that ruptured into a preauricular sinus. The occurrence of these two lesions on the same side of a patient is a notable and previously unreported event. The patient was successfully treated with intravascular embolization and surgical ligation.