A CLINICOSTATISTICAL STUDY ON MANDIBULAR FRACTURE

ABSTRACT

mandibular fracture which was related to regional and social environment and to aid diagnosis and treatment of the fracture. This is the clinicotatistical study on 277 inpatients who had 450 mandibular fractures and were treated at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Chonnam University Hospital from Jan. 1, 1992 to Dec. 31, 1996. Results obtained were as follows The patients age ranged between 3-73 years. The third decade age group revealed the highest incidence of the fracture (35.0%), followed by the second decade (20.2%) and the fourth (17.3%) in order. Two hundred and sixteen patients were male and 61 patients were female (the ratio of male to female was 3.71. The fracture was at the highest incidence in August (13.4%), followed by in October (12.3%) and September (11.9%). The most common cause of the fracture was traffic accidents (33.9%), followed by falling down (24.9%) and violence (17.7%). The most common site of the fracture was symphysis (44.3%), followed by condyle (27.3%) and angle(21.5%). The most commonly occurred concomitant facial injury was facial laceration (33.9%). Concomitant injuries of other parts of body were most commonly caused by traffic accident (75.7%) and head and neck were the most common site of the injury (41.7%). Of the 277 patients, 258 patients (93.1%) were treated by open reduction. The average period of intermaxillary fixation was 9.4 days. Postoperative complications were found in 24 (8.7%) of 277 patients in which local infection (5.4%) was the most common. These results suggest that the mandibular fracture is commonly associated with concomitant injury of other parts of body, so that team approaches with other medical departments are recommended for its appropriate diagnosis and treatment.