
Intermuscular pterygoid-temporal abscess following inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia-A computer tomography based navigated surgical intervention: Case report and review
Author(s) -
Jürgen Wallner,
Knut Reinbacher,
Mauro Pau,
Matthias Feichtinger
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
annals of maxillofacial surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 6
ISSN - 2231-0746
DOI - 10.4103/2231-0746.133090
Subject(s) - medicine , inferior alveolar nerve , abscess , nerve block , surgery , local anesthesia , anesthetic , intervention (counseling) , anesthesia , dentistry , psychiatry , molar
Inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) anesthesia is a common local anesthetic procedure. Although IANB anesthesia is known for its safety, complications can still occur. Today immediately or delayed occurring disorders following IANB anesthesia and their treatment are well-recognized. We present a case of a patient who developed a symptomatic abscess in the pterygoid region as a result of several inferior alveolar nerve injections. Clinical symptoms included diffuse pain, reduced mouth opening and jaw's hypomobility and were persistent under a first step conservative treatment. Since image-based navigated interventions have gained in importance and are used for various procedures a navigated surgical intervention was initiated as a second step therapy. Thus precise, atraumatic surgical intervention was performed by an optical tracking system in a difficult anatomical region. A symptomatic abscess was treated by a computed tomography-based navigated surgical intervention at our department. Advantages and disadvantages of this treatment strategy are evaluated.