[Functional disturbances of the inferior alveolar nerve following sagittal osteotomy of the ramus mandibulae: preventive surgical technic].

Permanent functional disturbances of the inferior alveolar nerve after sagittal osteotomy of the ramus of the mandible form an increasingly common feature of the reported series. Reference is made to earlier experimental research in a description of a preliminary series in which this complication was avoided by cleaving the two cortical substances with a thin cement spatula used as a scalpel. The results were extremely encouraging. There were no reports of permanent functional disturbances of the alveolar nerve, while the incidence of temporary defects was also reduced.