Mandibular sites prone to fracture: analysis of 174 cases in a Nigerian tertiary hospital.

BACKGROUND Mandibular fracture is an important surgical condition in our environment and elsewhere in the world. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to clinically determine the most common sites of the mandible prone to fracture. PATIENTS AND METHOD This two-year prospective study was carried out at the Dental and Maxillofacial clinic, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, in 2007 and 2008. RESULTS One hundred and seventy four patients' ages between six to 70 years (mean 28.7 ± 5.3 years) were studied. One hundred and forty two (81.6%) of them were males and 32 (18.4%) females, with a male/female ratio of 4.4:1.Road traffic accident significantly (χ2 = 17.1607, P = 0.0087) accounted for 139 (79.9%) of the fractures. There were 244 fracture sites in the 174 patients, with the body of the mandible being significantly (χ2 = 21, P = 0.0008) affected than other sites in fracture (n = 115, 47.1%). However, 96 (39.3%) and 132 (54.1%) of the fractures occurred on the right and left sides of the mandible respectively. Most patients had single (44.3%) and double (31.6%) fractures and this finding was significant (χ2 = 60.9314, P = 0.0000). The patients encountered were fully (62.6%) and partially dentate (37.4%). The fractures were successfully treated by conservative method, closed reduction and open reduction techniques. CONCLUSION This study shows that the tooth-bearing portion, body, left and right sides of the mandible are most commonly prone to fracture when multiple aetiologies are considered.