Buttress Notes
Lateral Maxillary (yellow) Includes the lateral walls of orbit, maxillary sinus
Medial Maxillary (purple) Includes medial orbital, lateral nasal walls
Posterior Maxillary (pink) Includes pterygoid plates
Posterior Vertical (orange)
Upper Transverse Maxillary (blue) Includes the orbital floor
Lower Transverse Maxillary (green) Includes the hard palate
Upper Transverse Mandibular (magenta)
Lower Transverse Mandibular (orange)

 

Naso-orbito-ethmoid (NOE) fractures: confluence of upper transverse maxillary and medial maxillary buttresses.

Zygomaticomaxillary complex (ZMC) fractures: upper transverse maxillary and lateral maxillary buttresses.

Le Fort fractures: All involve posterior maxillary.

Le Fort 1 involves inferior portions of lateral and medial maxillary buttresses.

Le Fort 2 involves inferior lateral maxillary, superior medial maxillary buttresses.

Le Fort 3 involves upper transverse maxillary, superior lateral and medial maxillary buttresses.

 

References:

Hopper, R. A., et al. (2006). “Diagnosis of Midface Fractures with CT: What the Surgeon Needs to Know.” Radiographics 26(3): 783-793.

 

Gruss, J. S. and S. E. Mackinnon (1986). “Complex maxillary fractures: role of buttress reconstruction and immediate bone grafts.” Plast Reconstr Surg 78(1): 9-22.