A review of pediatric maxillofacial bone fractures managed in a low resource center

Background: Maxillofacial fractures in children are rare, but present challenges that may adversely affect growth and development. Objective: To analyze the pattern and management of maxillofacial bone fractures in patients aged one to 12 years. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on 47 pediatric patients with maxillofacial fractures that presented to our hospital over a 20-year period. Data on etiology, clinical characteristics, treatment and complications were analyzed. Results: There were 47/3996 (1.2%) pediatric patients with 58/4623 (1.3%) fractures out of the 3996 patients and 4623 fractures that presented. There were 33 boys and 14 girls giving a male to female ratio of 2.4:1. The age of patients ranged from 5-12 years with mean age of 9.2±2.3 years. As the age increased, the frequency of patients with fractures increased (p=0.001). Road traffic accidents (RTA) was the commonest cause of fractures (39/47, 83%, p=0.000), and concomitant injuries occurred in 11/47 (23.4%) of the victims. Majority of the patients were managed conservatively (n=32/47, 68.1%). Those knocked down by motor vehicle had more multiple (n=6/8, 75%) and displaced (n=11/15, 73.3%, p=0.01) fractures, longer hospital stay (4-7 days), and concomitant injuries (n=8/11, 72.7%, p=0.01). Conclusion: This study shows that the prevalence of maxillofacial fractures was low amongst one to 12 years age groups. As majority of them were knocked down by motor vehicle, preventive program if instituted will have a positive effect in reducing the prevalence of fractures.