Surgical prosthetic splints as an adjunct in treating facial fractures.

Surgical splints are a valuable adjunct in managing certain mandible and maxillary fractures. Of the various splint materials, acrylic is the easiest, fastest, and least expensive. Acrylic splints are rigid, strong, easily adjusted and repaired, translucent, lightweight, and tolerated well by the oral mucosa. Splints are beneficial not only in the edentulous adult, but also in the child with deciduous dentition and in the patient with a partial dentition. Splints are helpful in managing fractures of the symphysis, parasymphyseal region, body, and alveolar ridges of the mandible, sagittal fractures of the hard palate, and severely comminuted mandible fractures. Construction of acrylic splints is simple and rapid if the surgeon uses the services of a dentist or a dental laboratory.