The Pattern of Middle Third Facial Fractures Presenting at a Nigerian Tertiary Health Care Facility

Objective: The patterns of fractures of the individual bones that constitute the middle third of the facial skeleton are varied. The peculiarities of fractures in some anatomic sites are influenced by the prevailing aetiological risk factors in the study population. The objective of this study, was to address the draw-back and determine the pattern of middle third facial fractures presenting at a Nigerian tertiary healthcare centre. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of the pattern of middle third facial fractures, presenting at a Nigerian tertiary healthcare facility. Data was collected prospectively over a 49- month period (October, 2006 to October, 2010). Results: During the forty-nine months of this study, 781 patients with maxillofacial fractures were seen Out of this number, 304 patients had middle third facial fractures which represented a prevalence of 38.9%. In this study, only 25 (8.2%) patients with middle third facial fractures were brought from accident scenes and referring peripheral hospitals in ambulances to the health facility. Conclusion: Middle facial fractures occurred more in male than female and in younger age groups and road traffic crash was the major cause.