Influence of degree of edentulism in mandible fractures / Influência do grau de edentulismo em fraturas mandíbulas

RESUMO

Objective ­ To characterize epidemiologically the aspects of incidence, treatment and complications of mandibular fractures in dentate, partially dentate and edentulous patients. Methods ­ Data were collected from medical records of patients seen by the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Piracicaba School of Dentistry/UNICAMP, from January 1999 to October 2009. Results ­ Were selected 738 adult patients, grouped into three age groups (18 to 30 years, 31-64 years and over 64 years), whose degree of edentulism was informed, being 330 dentition (45%), 367 partially serrated (50%) and 41 edentulous (5%). The ratio between male and female was 41, mean age of 31 years, with higher incidence in caucasians, and 81% were economically active. The most common causes were traffic accidents (54%), followed by assault (20%), falls (15%), sports accidents (4%) and work (4%). Condylar fractures accounted for 29% of all fractures, followed by fractures of the body (25%), symphysis (24%) and angle (19%). The only significant difference between the sites of fracture was found in the edentulous, which presented a low incidence of angle fractures. Conclusions ­ It was observed that this population, homogeneous as to the cultural and socio-environmental factors, the dentate, partially dentate and edentulous behaved similarly as to the mandibular fractures resulting from trauma energies of similar intensities.