Traumatic Damage to the Inferior Alveolar Nerve Sustained in Course of Dental Implantation. Possibility of Prevention

SUMMARY The results of inferior alveolar nerve functional state investigation for 383 patients after dental implantation are presented in the article. Besides, structural and anatomical variations of the mandible and its canal that is of significant importance in planning dental implantation, based on the analysis of mandible ortopantomograms of 750 patients as well as the referral data are showed. Traumatic injury of the inferior alveolar nerve following dental implantation is found in 17.75% of cases. According to the type of the functional disturbance of the nerve and the dynamics of its recovery, which objectively may be assessed using sensography, three grades of the nerve injury have been estimated: the first type or mild nerve damage is found to 9.92 % of patients, the second or moderate damage – 7.05%, the third type or severe damage – in 0.78% of cases. The subjective clinical symptoms of the injury of inferior alveolar nerve relieve more rapidly and nerve function recovers faster if the following treatment is applied: in the first type cases – administration of NSAID, antihistamine (or glucocorticoides), vasodilatator s, diuretics, B group vitamins; in the second type cases; a good therapy effect is gained if the above mentioned treatment is proceeded after nerve decompression; in case of the third type nerve injury the removal of dental implant and symptomatic treatment is recommended. The prevention of traumatic injury of inferior nerve is proper and rational planning of implantation method, in accordance with the anatomical features of the mandible and individual variations of the topography of mandible canal.