In the current era, most mandibular fractures are sustained in motor vehicle colli­sions, although interpersonal violence is the most common etiology in some series [1, 2]. While the incidence of mandibular fractures has certainly increased with the advent of the motor vehicle, these injuries have been a challenge to humans for mil­lennia. In ancient times, mandible fractures were considered untreatable and fatal injuries, likely due to infection and the functional impairment of untreated fractures [3]. Hippocrates is one of the rst physicians to attempt the treatment of mandible fractures [3, 4]. Hippocrates described a method of closed reduction, interdental xation with gold wires, and external leather straps to help keep the mandible in reduction [3, 4]. Little changed in the management of mandibular fractures until the eighteenth century when dental splints were rst described in the management of mandibular fractures. The nineteenth century saw the advent of attempts at open reduction with internal xation via wires as well as the rst descriptions of maxil­lomandibular xation [3, 5]. Thomas Gunning was amongst those who described maxillomandibular xation through interdental splinting, and a modication of the Gunning splint is still an option in the management of edentulous patients today [6]. It was at the turn of the twentieth century that immobilization of mandibular frac­tures with plates and screws was rst described [3, 5]. During the 1960s, widespread production of these plates and screws began, allowing for this technique to be more widely utilized [3, 5].