Bilateral Atypical Facial Pain Caused by Eagle's Syndrome.

Recurrent throat pain, "foreign body" sensation, difficulty in swallowing, or vague facial pain is many times caused by the presence of an elongated styloid process. Many times, this condition is misdiagnosed and the patient is treated for facial neuralgia. But once Eagle's syndrome is confirmed by clinical and radiological examination, the treatment is always surgical resection. The approach maybe intraoral or extraoral. In this paper, we present a case of Eagle's syndrome caused by bilateral elongation of the styloid process and where surgical resection of the same gave instant permanent relief for the patient.

A Novel Modification of the Sagittal Split Osteotomy as an Access Osteotomy.

Pathologies present in the central zone of the mandible are difficult to access, primarily because of the presence of the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) and the need to remove a large corticocancellous component to reach the area of interest. Many times, this bony window is replaced as a free graft and there is complete resorption in the long term or even rejection of the graft causing a bony defect which can weaken the mandible. Furthermore, the damage to the IAN is profound. To try and avoid these comorbidities the traditional sagittal split osteotomy was modified to access a central osteoma impinging on the IAN and the successful removal of the same without any comorbidities such as paraesthesia or loss of bone structure. We believe that this modification can be used for other scenarios such as benign cysts and difficult presentations of impacted teeth.

Analysis of the Changing Patterns of Midface Fractures Using 3D Computed Tomography: An Observational Study.

This article aims to analyze the changing Le Fort fracture patterns using computed tomography (CT) scans with three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction. A prospective observational study was conducted on 60 patients with midface trauma, who had reported to MS Ramaiah Group of Hospitals, Bangalore, between January 2015 and October 2016. CT scans using 1.6 mm axial, sagittal, coronal sections were taken and their 3D reconstruction was made. The images were studied and compared with the standard Le Fort lines. The deviations from the classical Le Fort lines were analyzed and recorded. A note was also made of any additional fixation that was required for these deviations. Descriptive analysis was done and the results expressed in numbers and percentages. Study revealed that the most common cause for the midface fractures was found to be road traffic accidents (81.7%) with a male preponderance (88.3%) and peak incidence in 21 to 30 years of age (40%). Among the 60 patients, 18 (30%) patients had fracture patterns similar to the ideal Le Fort lines, 4 (6.6%) had a combination of Le Fort patterns, and 38 (66.3%) patients had deviations seen from the ideal Le Fort lines. Four types of deviations were recorded, namely, D1(60%), D2(5.4%), D3(10.9%), and D4(23.6%). It was observed that D1 and D3 required additional fixation. Majority of the cases presented as a deviation from ideal Le Fort fractures. CT was a valuable tool in the assessment of these fracture patterns. Deviations, if any, could be better analyzed using the 3D reconstruction images. Proper diagnosis and detection of these deviations make the planning for fixation easier. Repetition of these deviations could propose a newer or modified classification system for Le Fort fractures.