Akola doctors reconstruct 17-yr-old’s broken jaw with multiple fractures

Nagpur: A 17-year-old boy suffered a broken jaw following a road accident in Akola last week. As the teen was riding without helmet, the accident impact fractured his mandible leaving the jawbone in two parts from near the chin. Initially, a CT scan showed a linear crack in the jaw.
The doctors had a complicated task of fixing not just the mandible but also another piece of bone which came off from the affected jaw area.The teen lost symmetry of his teeth and could not place them over each other. He couldn’t even chew.

Dr Palak Umadiya and Dr Zubair Ahmed, oral and maxillofacial surgeons at Boon Hospital in Akola, performed the surgery to reconstruct the jaw.
Dr Ahmed said the victim had suspected head injury too. He underwent a CT scan at a private hospital on the outskirts of Akola where he was given an estimate of ₹50,000.
Boon Hospital treated him at 50% of this amount considering his poor financial status. “He couldn’t afford the cost and was referred to us. We have been considering poor patients even otherwise and holding free check up camps,” said Dr Ahmed.
On the accident victim’s surgery, he said, “It is not a rare surgery but a routine one. But the fracture was not linear as seen in CT scan. The jawbone received multiple fractures. It was a bit difficult to restore a broken piece of jawbone but we successfully fixed it. The surgery took an hour more than usual. His looks have been restored too.”
Akola doesn’t have a government dental college while such procedures and surgeries are not done at the GMC there. Such patients have to either travel to Amravati or Nagpur to avail expertise of well-qualified doctors.
The surgery was done in two parts, including dental occlusion or inter-maxillary fixation and plating.
“It will take six weeks to completely heal. The patient is on liquid diet and would remain so till the fixation is removed,” said Dr Ahmed.