Post-traumatic superolateral dislocation of condyle: A case series of 18 condyles with review of literature and a proposed classification.

AIM: The aim is to review the English literature for post-traumatic superolateral dislocation of mandibular condyle (SDMC),discuss their dynamics and clinical management and to propose to modify the existing classification of SDMC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A literature search was carried at Pubmed, Sciencedirect, Google and references from reported articles were crosschecked to look for the cases of SDMC from 1969 to 2015 in English language. Also, we have reviewed 11 of our patients with total of 18 superolateral dislocated intact or sagittal split condyles ,who visited our unit in the previous two years.

RESULTS: In our retrospective analysis 58 cases of SDMC were found in the literature, of which 38 had intact mandibular condyles and 20 had sagittal split. Early and intact SDMC were successfully managed conservatively with closed reduction, whereas old cases and largely fractured condyles necessitated open reduction. Additionally, we observed an unusual dislocation associated with fracture of contralateral posterior mandible(angle) in our series which did not gratify the existing classification.

CONCLUSION: Alteration of the existing classification was required to accommodate the unusual type of dislocation.