Management strategy for penetrating oropharyngeal injury

Direct force applied to an object held in the mouth may cause either superficial or penetrating injury within the oro-pharynx. The natural course for a majority of these injuries is spontaneous healing. Penetrating trauma in the paraphar-yngeal space may cause life-threatening vascular injuries. Violation of the retropharyngeal space may lead to dissecting emphysema or mediastinitis. Knowledge of these infrequent but serious sequelae complicates emergency department management decisions.