Aetiological Factors for Mandibular Fractures seen in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, South-South Nigeria.

Abstract

Abstract: The objective of this study was to determine prospectively the common aetiological factors leading to fractures of the mandible in patients seen in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar, Nigeria. A total 252 patients with fractures of the facial skeleton were seen out of which 174 (69%) presented with mandibular fractures over a period of two years. Road traffic accidents, both vehicular road and traffic accidents (VRTA) and Motorcycle road traffic accidents (MRTA) were the commonest cause (79.9%) of mandibular fractures with MRTA accounting for 36.2% of total and 45.3% of all the RTS’s followed by assault, sporting events, falls from heights, gun shot and industrial accidents. Majority of the patients were males 142 (81.6%) with fewer females 32 (18.4%) giving a male-female ratio of 4.4:1. Most of the patients were aged between 21 and 30 years. Government should ban use of motorcycle as a means of commercial transportation and make more motor vehicles available for this purpose.