Abstract
Purpose: Maxillofacial fractures have become one of the major fields of oral and maxillofacial surgery. However, the situation of maxillofacial fracture cases treated by oral surgeons in Japan remains unclear. It is considered that the causes and demographics of such fractures have been changing due to the social background, such as population aging and the decrease in the number of traffic accidents. In this study, we systematically reviewed related papers to examine the changing requirements of maxillofacial fractures.
Objects and Methods: We searched articles published by oral and maxillofacial surgery facilities in Japan between 1965 and 2017, using the keywords maxillofacial and fracture, in Ichushi-Web and CiNii. Consequently, 69 articles fit the requirements of this study. These were divided into two groups of 38 and 31 articles that were published up to 1990 and after 1991, respectively, and sex, age, injury cause, fracture site, etc. were compared between the two periods.
Results: The articles of the former and latter periods described 9,787 and 5,741 patients, respectively. The proportion of females increased from 21％ to 29％, and the proportion of patients over 60 years old increased from 4％ to 18％. Regarding the cause of injury, the rate of falls overtook that of traffic accidents.
Discussion: This systematic review helped clarify the long-term changes and current situation of maxillofacial fractures treated by oral surgeons in Japan.
