Chin Injury
in Children
Recently in my OPD a child of approx 5 years of age came with his
father. Father told that he is very naughty and while running at home he fell
down and hurt his chin. It was third time when the kid had injury over his chin.
There was a dressing over chin. On gentle removal of dressing and careful examination
I found a cut over bony point of chin. It was deep to the muscle. There were
marks or scars of previous injury adjacent to cut.
What is Chin area?
Chin formation is contributed by lower jaw. Lower jaw is a U shaped
bone called as #mandible. It has two vertical limbs and one horizontal limb. Lower
border of Central part of horizontal limb form the chin. It is covered by
muscle, fatty tissue. Upper margin of bone is embedded with teeth. Vertical
part of lower jaw articulates with skull bone and forms a very important #joint
called as #Temporo-mandibular joint or TM Joint. On opening and closing your
mouth you can feel joint movement in front of ear.
What is chin injury in children?
Chin is the area where bone is present under the skin. When someone
falls on ground with face down chin strikes with the ground and skin gets a cut
over chin. Depending upon the weight of child or severity of impact this cut is
of variable depth and can involve skin, underlying fatty tissue and muscle. In
couple of cases injury is severe and can damage the bone of lower jaw.
Why chin #injury is of serious concern in toddlers?
In most of cases chin injury does not involve jaw #bone and these types
of injuries are not of special concern. In couple of cases it can involve bone
of lower jaw then it is a case of concern and requires special treatment. It
should be diagnosed at the time of injury otherwise kids may develop various
problems.
To Whom consult after child get injury on chin?
If a kid gets chin injury and there is cut and bleeding you should
immediately consult with #plastic surgeon for chin injury treatment. Sometime children don’t have cut
over chin but they complain of pain in front of #ear on jaw opening or closing
then it is a sign of special concern and you should consult with a #plastic
surgeon. He will not only treat soft tissue injury but also diagnose any bony
injury if present
What can happen if it is neglected?
If there is cut wound on chin area of kid after fall and it also has
some bony injury it should not be neglected because it usually affect joint
area. If this remains unnoticed or neglected then jaw bone may get fused with #skull
bone.This complication is called as Temporomandibular Joint Ankylosis It results into difficulty in opening mouth and chewing food, maintaining
oral hygiene. Development of jaw will be affected and there are chances that #Facial
asymmetry may develop with child growth.
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