title: Surgical management of a projectile within the temporomandibular joint.
abstract: Facial gunshot wounds pose a challenge for head and neck surgeons as it is usually accompanied by significant soft and bone tissue loss and impairment of the stomatognathic system. This article reports the case of a patient who had sustained facial gunshot wound and had the projectile lodged at the upper disk space of the right-side temporomandibular joint, which caused mandible function impairment and pain. The projectile was surgically removed via endaural access, and the patient was later submitted to physiotherapy. After treatment, the function of the joint was reestablished, the pain disappeared, and the aesthetics results were considered excellent, with no sequels. The surgical removal of the projectile of the temporomandibular joint combined with the postsurgical physiotherapy showed to be an efficient treatment to the present case.
authors.affiliation: Craniofacial Pain Applied to Dentistry Discipline, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, CENDDOR, Porto Alegre, Brazil. edugrmnn@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grossmann
authors.forename: Aurelício Novaes
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Marcus Vinicius Martins
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Collares
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal; D013704:Temporomandibular Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*