Wire Osteosynthesis in the Treatment of Mandible Fractures in Low Resource Settings: A Force Study.

Study design: Cadaveric investigation.

Objective: Rigid internal fixation (RIF) using plates and screws is often not feasible in low and middle-income countries due to limited resources. Interosseous wiring to achieve semi-rigid fixation is often used, but lacks biomechanical force data. Herein we aim to quantitatively compare interosseous wiring to RIF.

Methods: Cadaveric mandibles were fractured at the parasymphysis and angle. Fixation was achieved using interosseous wiring in both single wire loop and figure-of-eight formations, as well as plate and screw fixation (n = 5 for each fixation type at each fracture site). A force gauge was used to measure the number of Newtons (N) required to achieve diastasis and complete failure at the fixation site.

Results: For angle fractures, the mean force required for initial diastasis was 4.1, 5.9, and 10.9 N for single wire, figure-of-eight wiring, and plating respectively (P < .001). Complete failure was achieved with 152.9, 168.9, and 237.6 N of force for the three methods, respectively (P < .001). Complete failure was achieved for parasymphyseal fractures with 197.7, 263.0, and 262.8 N of force for single wire, figure-of-eight wiring, and plating respectively (P = .002). Forces to achieve initial diastasis for parasymphyseal fractures were not statistically significant among the three fixation methods (P = .29).

Conclusions: Figure-of-eight interosseous wiring resists comparable forces across mandibular fractures compared to the gold standard of plating. In resource-limited settings when plates and screws are not available, this technique can be considered to achieve semi-rigid fixation of mandibular fractures.