Audit of the demographic patterns of oral and maxillofacial surgical cases in a Nigerian teaching hospital.

Abstract

Background: Surgical audit is a normal part of surgical practice. Earlier reports on the availability of oral and maxillofacial surgical services in Nigeria showed limited number of centres and shortage of specialists.
Objective: To determine the pattern of oral and maxillofacial surgical diseases in order to establish the local demographic data base and subsequently structure service delivery on evidence-based disease profile.
Materials and methods: A retrospective study using the admission registers and folders of cases treated in the oral and maxillofacial unit in the period of January 2005 to December 2010 in a Nigerian teaching hospital.
Results: Within the period, 7948 patients were seen and17.0% needed oral and maxillofacial surgical treatment. Ratio of male to female subjects was 4:1, whereas the age of subjects ranged from one-83 years with mean age at 38.7±10.6 years. Both congenital (0.8%) and acquired (99.2%) cases were recorded. Subjects that had acquired conditions were categorized into traumatic (67.1%) and non-traumatic (32.1%). The commonest aetiological factor (79.1%) causing disease was road traffic accident. The common treatments were intermaxillary fixation (54.8%) and resection (7.5%), whereas the complications were limitation in mouth opening, 22.1% and facial deformity, 19.5%.
Conclusion: The commonest indication for consultation was trauma, and since resources for care are scarce in Nigeria, the focus should be to reduce the disease burden by prevention.

Keywords: Audit, Demographic pattern, Oral, Maxillofacial, Trauma.