Faculty Collaboration Database

Fracture Injury Risk of the Restrained Mandible to Anterior-Posterior Blunt Impacts. J Biomech Eng 2021 Apr 01;143(4)

Date

02/10/2021

Pubmed ID

33558882

DOI

10.1115/1.4050122

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85107163474 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   3 Citations

Abstract

This study describes the results of anterior-posterior impacts conducted on the mandibles of 22 male postmortem human subjects (PMHSs). The objective of this study was to develop an injury criterion for the mandible based on blunt impact while the jaw was restrained. Previous studies have attempted to characterize the injury risk of blunt impact to the mandible; however, due to the translation of the mandible during impact and a limited number of fractured specimens, previous studies were not able to produce an injury criterion. Blunt impact to a restrained mandible is relevant to a wide array of helmeted individuals, including the military population and sports that require helmets with chinstraps. Therefore, in this study, specimens were positioned with restrained jaws and impacted using a monorail drop tower with a gravity-driven cylindrical impactor. Nineteen of 22 specimens sustained at least one fracture during testing. Injury cases had an average impact energy of 15.0 ± 5.7 J (11.1 ± 4.2 ft-lb) and a fracture force of 2684 ± 726 N (603 ± 163 lbf). Results were used to generate an impactor force based injury criterion through survival analysis. Risk of injury was modeled using a Weibull distribution and a 50% risk of injury was found to occur at approximately 2834 N (637 lbf). The developed injury risk curve can be used to characterize injury to the restrained mandible for future testing and research studies, especially in the development of maxillofacial protective equipment.

Author List

Daniel RW, Weisenbach CA, McGovern SM, Rooks TF, Chancey VC, Brozoski FT

Author

Tyler F. Rooks PhD, MS Assistant Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Aged
Biomechanical Phenomena
Humans
Male
Mandible
Mandibular Fractures
Mechanical Phenomena
Middle Aged
Wounds, Nonpenetrating