INTRODUCTION: Low- intensity Pulsed Ultra Sound (LIPUS) and Extra Corporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT), are the different forms of acoustic mechanical waves that might promote bone healing by stimulating bone growth in long or other bones.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of adjuvant therapy with LIPUS and ESWT in healing fresh mandibular fractures patients.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty one patients (12 males, 9 females) , aged from 20 to 40 years , had fresh mandibular fractures to be treated with closed reduction and maxillary mandibular fixation (MMF), prospectively. Patients enrolled into this study with ethical approval and informed consent. Those patients were randomly assigned in three treatment groups. Group I received a single treatment with 4000 impulses of focused ESWT, group II received 18 sessions of LIPUS for 20 Min each ; while group III , received neither of those treatments, represented the control group -- Clinical assessment together with radiographic follow-up using Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) at 1.5 and 3 months were done for all patients postoperatively.
RESULTS: There was statistically significant difference in bone density between three groups in different times after six weeks and after three months as bone density higher in group I than in groups II, III.
CONCLUSIONS: Focused ESWT appeared to be more effective than LIPUS or nothing as an adjuvant treatment of adults with fresh mandibular fractures.