Fifty-nine cases with condylar fracture of the mandible treated at our department from April 1982 to March 1989 were reviewed and analysed. Their characteristic features were as follows.
1) Condylar fracture occured in 49. 2% of the mandibular fractures and the ratio of the male to female was 1.3 to 1. The largest group of patients were in the teen age group (30.5%).
2) The most frequent causes of condylar fracture were traffic accidents (50.8%) and most patients (86.4%) visited our department within two weeks after injury.
3) Most cases (83. 0%) were indirect fractures, and of the fifty-nine cases, forty-nine were unilateral and ten were bilateral. Tlwn thirty-seven cases (57.6%) were combined with other mandibular fractures.
4) As for the level of fracture line and the degree of malpositions, fractures with dislocation oceurred most frequently in the condylar head and superior neck region.
5) Thirty-six cases (61. 0%) were treated with conservative procedures for both condylar fractures and other fractures of the mandible. On the other hand fifteen cases (25.4%) were treated with surgical procedures for other fractures of the mandible and eight cases (13.6%) were treated with surgical procedures for condylar fractures.
6) As for prognosis, it was excellent for young people, while that for the patient with old fractures and fractures combined with other mandibular sites or with dislocation tended to be not so good.
7) Most of the conservative procedures were indicated for new fractures and fractures wills slight dislocation of the small fragment, therefore prognosis of the patients treated with conservative procedures was mostly good. On the other hand most of the surgical procedures were used for old fractures and fractures with severe dislocation, so the prognosis of the patients treated with surgical procedures tended to be not so good compared with conservative ones.