Do maxillary dentures protect the skull base from penetration injury?

Abstract

Key Clinical Message Foreign bodies penetrating from the oral cavity can damage surrounding tissues. This case is considered an extremely rare and fortunate instance in which a maxillary denture appeared to weaken the external force and change the direction of the scissors, preventing damage to vital organs. Abstract The patient was a 73‐year‐old man. While on a ladder pruning a plant, he accidentally fell. The gardening scissors passed through the maxillary sinus from the maxillary alveolus and penetrated below the zygomatic arch. At the time of injury, the patient was wearing a metal‐frame denture on the maxilla, and contact between the cutting edge and the denture was speculated to have weakened the piercing force of the blade and changed the direction of the cutting edge. This extremely rare case demonstrates how a maxillary denture could reduce the severity of a penetrating injury caused by scissors.

Keywords

• gardening scissors
• maxillary denture
• maxillofacial fracture
• penetration injury
• protection