Mandibular fracture: analysis of 293 patients treated in the Hospital of Clinics, Federal University of Uberlândia

Mandibular fracture is the second most common facial fracture and there has been a significant increase in number of cases in the last years. Misidentification and inadequate treatment can take to permanent aesthetic or functional deformity. Aim: Evaluate cases of mandibular fracture reduction in the Hospital of Clinics of the Federal University of Uberlândia, from January of 1974 to December of 2002. Study design: historical cohort. Patient and Method: Two hundred and ninety-three cases of reduction of mandibular fractures were retrospectively analyzed according to factors related to: patient, trauma, signs and symptoms, and surgical treatment. Results: There has been a clear tendency of increase of the number of mandibular fractures along the years. There was higher prevalence in male (4:1), with occurrence peak between 20 to 29 years old. The principal causes of fracture in this study were traffic accidents and violence, representing 72.4%. One hundred and thirty-five patients presented only one fracture. The most injured sites were, in decreasing order, symphysis, condyle, angle, body, ramus, and coronoid. We performed closed reduction (28), open reduction (213) and association of the two (11 patients); 56.8% of the patients were treated within the first 3 days; and, 50.4% were discharged from the hospital until the first postoperative day. About 10% of the patients presented complications, being osteomyelitis the most frequent one. Conclusion: The incidence of mandibular fractures was remarkably larger in the male sex, during the third decade of life. The most common cause was traffic accident, and symphysis and condyle were the most injured sites. Isolated fractures occurred in over half of the cases. Most of the patients were treated in the first three days and were discharged until the first postoperative visit. Closed reduction was the treatment most commonly employed. The most frequent complication was osteomyelitis.