A four year retrospective study of 1,062 patients presenting with maxillofacial emergencies at a specialist paediatric hospital

摘要

Aims: To examine the nature of maxillofacial injuries that presented to the Birmingham Children's Hospital according to aetiology, incidence rnand characteristics of patients.rnMethods: The maxillofacial unit at Diana Princess of Wales Birmingham Children's Hospital serves a catchment area of 5.2 million. We rnexamined all children who presented with maxillofacial trauma from 2002 to 2006. Details including characteristics of patients and aetiology rnand nature of injury, were entered prospectively into a database.rnResults: The total number of patients who presented was 1062. The ratio of boys to girls was 2:1. The main reason for attendance was a fall rn(70%). 149 (17%) patients presented after interpersonal violence. Soft tissue injuries accounted for 70% of injuries and 14% presented with rna maxillofacial fracture.rnConclusions: Our data indicate that the range and mechanism of presenting injuries have not changed within the time frame. Despite public rnperception of increasing interpersonal violence, this was not reflected in our series of patients.