Incidence of Maxillofacial Fractures and Their Care Proceedings in Patients Referred to Shariati Hospital in 2019-2020: A Prospective Study

 Trauma to maxillofacial structures can cause growth disorders and deformities in craniofacial bones, permanently affecting patient’s quality of life. Moreover, a significant increase in incidence of maxillofacial fractures due to more widespread use of motor vehicles and interpersonal assaults cannot be overlooked. This study evaluated the incidence of maxillofacial fracture types and the employed management course in patients referred to Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran over 2019-2020.

 In this cross sectional study, patients with maxillofacial traumas referred to this center were selected using census sampling method. Age, gender, etiology of trauma, location of fractures, drug and/or alcohol addiction, duration of referral until hospitalization, opt surgical treatments and recruitment were documented using clinical examinations and interview. Obtained results were reported by means of the descriptive statistics methods.

 Two hundred and twenty-three (223) patients (83.4% males and 16.6% females) were enrolled. The mean age of patients was 29.95 years. The etiology of fractures were motor vehicle accidents (85; 38.1%), motorcycle accidents (36; 16.1%); interpersonal assaults (33; 14.8%), falls (56; 25.1%), sport related injuries (6; 2.7%) and industrial incidents (5; 2.2%). In 181 patients (81.5%), there was no fracture in the other parts of the body while in 41 patients (18.4%) concurrent fractures in other sites were observed as well. The most anatomic site of the fracture was mandible. The mean time passed from the referral until hospitalization, surgery and recruitment day was 2.09, 6.89 and 10.56 days respectively.

 In patients with maxillofacial fractures referred to Shariati Hospital during 2019-2020, the fractures predominantly occurred in males,in the mandible and mostly due to traffic accidents on motor vehicles, consistent with reported data obtained in other developing countries.