Pediatric chin injury: occult condylar fractures of the mandible.

The diagnosis of occult mandibular condylar fractures in children is often missed or delayed on initial examination when children present with a laceration to the chin. A clue to the diagnosis of this type of skeletal injury to the mandible is the knowledge of a commonly occurring pattern of injury associated with chin trauma. Chin laceration, fracture of the parasymphyseal region near the chin, and fracture of the condyles are often concomitant injuries of the mandible. This article reviews three case reports of children who sustained a chin laceration, fracture in the region near the chin, and fracture to the mandibular condyles secondary to chin trauma that were not initially diagnosed on clinical examination.