• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.567-572
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• 2010

Intraoperative breakage of instruments can be occurred unexpectedly. To prevent damage of neighboring important anatomic structures and consequent complications, broken instruments should be removed as soon as possible. There have been several methods to remove broken instruments. One of them is the Carm fluoroscopy which is commonly used for locating metal foreign bodies. However, its application for removal of broken instruments in the oral and maxillofacial area is not common. In our experiences with the removal of two broken instruments in mandibular area, the newly developed dental mini C-arm was used to find broken instrument in soft tissue, because it gives real-time in situ information for the intraoperative location. We report two cases with broken instruments, a broken dental needle in the pterygomandibular space and a broken straight bur in the mandibular angle area. They were identified and could be removed safely using a dental mini C-arm.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.89-91
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• 2010

Impaction of tooth is a situation in which an unerupted tooth is wedged against another tooth or teeth or otherwise located so that it cannot erupt normally. The supernumerary tooth is also called as hyperdontia and defined as the condition of having additional tooth to the regular number of teeth. The most common supernumerary tooth is a mesiodens, which is a mal-formed, peg-like tooth that occurs between the maxillary incisors. The supernumerary tooth is commonly impacted but they are frequently impacted on maxilla. Ectopic impaction of supernumerary tooth on mandibular condyle, coronoid process, ascending ramus, and pterygomandibular space is very rare condition. In this case, we report a case of impacted supernumerary tooth on mandibular sigmoid notch without definite pathologic change.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.445-448
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• 2011

Mortality associated with maxillofacial infection is relatively low due to the development of antibiotics, and improved oral care. However, inappropriate treatment, delayed treatment, old age, underlying systemic disease, and drug-resistant microorganisms can potentially result in life threatening situations such as cavernous sinus thrombosis, mediastinitis, and sepsis. Sepsis is the most dangerous state with high mortality, ranging from 20~60%. The treatment of sepsis involves properly monitoring vital functions, fluid resuscitation, surgical drainage, and empirical use of high doses of antibiotics until culture results are available. Ventilatory support maybe be required as well. We encountered a 64-year-old patient who died from sepsis that developed as the result of an odontogenic infection. The initial diagnosis was right temporal, infraorbital, buccal, pterygomandibular space abscess. Despite surgical and medical supportive care, the condition progressed to sepsis and after four days the patient died due to multiple organ failure.