Epidemiología de las fracturas maxilofaciales tratadas quirúrgicamente en Valdivia, Chile: 5 años de revisión

The incidence and the prevalence of maxillofacial trauma have been reported in many countries, with differences being found between studies due to sociocultural factors. Objetive: To determine the epidemiology of maxillofacial fractures in Base Hospital of Valdivia, Chile. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between the years 2005 and 2010, recording all fractures in the Maxillofacial Surgery Department that required surgical reduction. Information was collected according to patient age and gender, type of fracture, location, and date of the intervention. There was a total 149 patients with a total of 172 fractures. Results: The mean age was 27.47 years (SD 10.9). The male: female ratio was 9:1. Of all interventions (n = 172), 70.4% were mandibular fracture, with the angle of the mandible being the most frequent (27.9%), followed by paramedian (20.9%), zygomatic-maxillary (13.4%) and mandibular body (11.1%). In conclusion our study showed similar characteristics to other studies in terms of affected population, but the distribution of the location of fractures differed.