RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Fractures of the mandible angle raise the risk of infectious complications. We searched for factors predictive of these complications. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We reviewed retrospective all cases of mandibular angle fracture treated during a 26-month period. We compared two groups: fractures with wisdom teeth and fractures without wisdom tooth. For each group we noted clinical and radiological characteristics of the fractures and infectious complications. RESULTS: The series included 72 mandibular angle fractures, 30 with a wisdom tooth against 42 without. Most of the patients were treated within 2 days, generally using mini-plate screw fixation. In the wisdom tooth group, 16.6% of patients developed infectious complications versus 9.5% in the without wisdom tooth group. All patients of the wisdom tooth group presented a potentially infectious focus on the preoperative x-rays. For without wisdom tooth group, irregular follow-up was found to be the only risk factor. DISCUSSION: The angular localization increases the risk of infectious complications especially if the wisdom tooth is in the fracture. We propose a decision tree to determine when to preserve or not the wisdom tooth.