Maxillofacial fractures in Pondicherry, India: An eight-year single centre retrospective study

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the etiology, incidence, pattern, and treatment modalities of patients with maxillofacial fractures treated at the Department of Dentistry of a medical college in Pondicherry during the period between June 2011 and June 2019. A retrospective epidemiological study of 277 patients treated for maxillofacial fractures between June 2011 and June 2019 was performed. Data regarding age, gender, etiology, site of the fracture, time of injury, presence of associated injuries, treatment modalities, and complications were recorded. A total of 491 maxillofacial fractures were seen in 277 patients. These were 261 males (94.2%) and 16 females (5.8%) with a male to female ratio of 16.3:1. Most of the patients 79.8% were in the age group of 11 to 40 years. Most common cause of injury was Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs; 62.1%), followed by fall (20.2%), assault (14.4%) and others (3.3%). Fractures of the mandible (52.3%) and zygomatic complex (18.9%) were the most common maxillofacial fractures reported in our study. 196 patients sustained associated injuries with a prevalence of soft tissue injury (61.2%). Majority of fractures were treated with open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF; 71.9%) of patients followed by closed reduction (17.7%) and observation only (10.4%). Postoperative complications were presented in 16.8% of the patients in the study. RTC is the commonest cause of maxillofacial injury with a male predominance in our study. Mandibular and zygomatic complex fractures were the most common. ORIF remains the preferred method of treatment.s.