The mandible has a relatively limited blood supply and dense bone with thick bony
(cortical) plates. Infection causes acute inflammation in the medullary (bone
marrow) soft tissues and inflammatory exudate (a fluid with a high content of
protein and cellular debris which has escaped from blood vessels and has been
deposited in tissues or on tissue surfaces, usually as a result of inflammation. It
may be septic or non-septic) spreads infection through the marrow spaces. It also
compresses blood vessels confined in the rigid boundaries of the vascular canals.
Thrombosis (the formation or presence of a thrombus [a clot of coagulated blood
attached at the site of its formation] in a blood vessel) and obstruction then lead to
further bone necrosis.