Analyzing the Incidence and Factors Responsible for Maxillofacial Trauma and Postoperative Malocclusion- A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction:The area that falls in maxillofacial specialty contains many vital and essential anatomical structures making treatment of maxillofacial trauma life-threatening demanding early and accurate treatment. Also, maxillofacial areas are the most prominent ones making it more susceptible to the various injuries with high mortality and morbidity.

Aims:Present retrospective clinical trial was aimed at establishing the incidence and associated etiological factors with maxillofacial trauma and also to identify various malocclusions seen post-operatively following the management of maxillofacial fractures.

Methods: The study included 76 subjects, both males (n=42) and females (n=34) with the age range of 19 years to 62 years and mean age of 42.7±7.53. The included subjects had the maxillofacial fractures determined by the appropriate radiographs (OPG/CT). The etiological factors considered were assault, road traffic accidents, falls from the height, sports injuries, and others (shot from the gun, animal bite, etc.). All the collected data were subjected to statistical evaluation to formulate the results.

Results: The results showed that the most common cause of maxillofacial fracture was road traffic accidents accounting for 72.36% (n=55) with the most common injury from two-wheelers by 67.10% (n=51), followed by fall from height (14.47%, n=11), assault (6.57%, n=5), and sports injury (3.94%, n=3). The least incidence was seen while walking on the road by 1.31% (n=1).

The Le Fort II fracture was most commonly seen in the maxillary fractures 11.84% (n=9). In the mandibular fractures most common fracture was parasymphysis fractures (30.26%, n=23) followed by condylar fracture (28.94%, n=22) and angle fracture (21.05%, n=16). The highest number of concomitant injuries were head injuries with 64.47% (n=49) followed by orthopedic injuries with 17.10% (n=13), and least associated were spine injuries shown by just one subject (1.31%). The highest incidence of malocclusion was seen was anterior open-bite in 12 subjects (15.78%), followed by 7.89% crossbite (n=6), and the least observed orthodontic complication was mandibular retrognathia in 1 subject (1.31%).

Conclusion:The present study concludes that the most common cause of maxillofacial trauma is road traffic accidents mainly by the two-wheelers with ZMC and mandibular parasymphysis being the most common fractures to be encountered with concomitant head injuries