Motorcycle Related Oral and Maxillofacial Injuries Seen at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi-Ghana

Background: Motorcycle related injuries have become a major public health problem because the increased use of motorcycles has been accompanied with a corresponding increase of road traffic accidents. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of oral and maxillofacial injuries associated with motorcycles as seen at the second largest Teaching Hospital in Ghana, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). Method and Materials: The compiled data that were reviewed for this retrospective study were obtained from the Accident and Emergency unit of KATH. These comprised 135 successive maxillofacial trauma patient records entered from August 2017 to August 2018. Results: Total number of road traffic related injuries seen at OMFS was 135 during the study period. Out of this number, 66 were related to motorcycle injuries. This represented 48.7% of the Road Traffic Accidents seen at oral and maxillofacial surgery department (OMFS). The age range was from 3 to 64 years. The average age was 26.7 years. 62 (93.9%) were males and 4 (6.1%) were females. 16 (24.2%) of the motorcycle injuries were caused by the “Okada”, 2 (3.0%) by “Pragia” and 48 (72.8%) by the “Aboboyaa”. 46 (69.7%) of the motorcycles victims were themselves the riders, 12 (18.2%) were pedestrians and 8 (12.1%) were passengers. There were 8 deaths. 6 (75.0%) of the deaths were caused by the “Aboboyaa”. “Okada” accounted for only 2 (15.0%) deaths. Concerning the riders and the passengers, only 8 (14.8%) of the victims were helmeted. The majority were unhelmeted (85.2%). Conclusion: Motorcycle transportation is the cause of many oral and maxillofacial injuries. Majority of the victims suffered multiple facial bone fractures. Males were more often affected than females and the majority were unhelmeted.