Analysis of postoperative complications related to cannabis and tobacco usage in patients undergoing mandible facial fracture surgeries.

BACKGROUND

Cannabis is the third most used controlled substance in the world. Despite its widespread use, minimal research investigates cannabis usage in patients undergoing facial fracture surgeries. This study aimed to evaluate patterns of postoperative complications related to cannabis and tobacco usage after mandible fracture surgeries.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

PearlDiver™, a commercially available healthcare database, was used to identify patients endorsing the use of cannabis, tobacco, or both who underwent mandible fracture surgeries for cross-sectional analysis. The study population was categorized into groups using the Classification of Diseases, 9th revision (ICD-9), ICD-10, and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. A chi-square analysis was performed to assess the influence of cannabis and tobacco use on postoperative complications.

RESULTS

A total of 8288 patients met the inclusion criteria, with 72 patients with cannabis-only usage, 914 patients with cannabis and tobacco usage, 3236 patients with tobacco-only usage, and 4066 in the control group. For patients using only cannabis, there was not an increased risk of developing postoperative complications compared with the control population. Patients with concurrent cannabis and tobacco usage and those with tobacco-only usage had an increased risk of surgical site infection, facial nonunion, facial abscess, debridement, and malocclusion after surgical repair of mandibular facial fracture.

CONCLUSION

Patients with tobacco-only as well as cannabis and tobacco usage had an increased risk of all postoperative complications, except malocclusion, compared with cannabis-only. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that healthcare providers consider a patient's history of tobacco use when planning and performing surgical treatment for traumatic mandible fractures.