Delayed and Non-Healing Wounds in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Practice- A Case Series

Abstract

Wound healing is a physiological response to an injury. It is a very complex biological process. The oral cavity is a remarkable environment where healing often occurs without scar formation, even though oral cavity harbors millions of microbes. But instances of delayed or non-healing of wounds are common in the practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery. A plethora of causes have been suggested by various authors to account for these phenomena.  Some of the common ones reported in the literature are the following [1]: old age, obesity, chronic diseases, vascular insufficiency, malnutrition, protein and vitamin deficiency, malignancy, anemia, stress, immune-deficiency, infection and deficient oxygen delivery to tissues. Underlying systemic conditions are often ignored or undetected by general practitioners and this influence wound healing significantly. This article presents a series of unusual cases of delayed/non healing wounds, which warrant the need of proper referral of such cases by general practitioners to tertiary care centres.