Abstract

Penetration of the mandibular cortex during dental implant surgery may damage 3 important arteries and could lead to life-threatening circumstances. To lessen the likelihood of lateral angulations and cortical perforations, dental implants of less than 14 mm may be considered for the mandible. The courses of the inferior alveolar, facial, and lingual arteries and their branches are reviewed. Management of hemorrhage from a branch of the lingual or facial arteries may require an extraoral approach for ligation, because the mylohyoid, sublingual, and submental arteries can anastomose and be anatomically variable as well. A violation of 1 of these may be difficult to manage and lead to a compromise of the airway. A cortical perforation may be avoided by studying the anatomy of the ridge being treated. This article discusses what procedures to perform to obtund bleeding from 1 of these arteries and the technique of performing an emergency tracheotomy.