title: Jaw fractures in children.
abstract: From a total of 350 jaw fractures treated in 1980-1984 at Kuopio University Central Hospital, 20% were in children. These injuries were evaluated retrospectively regarding age, sex, incidence and etiology. Forty-five of the patients were boys and 25 girls. The frequency of maxillary and mandibular fractures in 70 young patients was 28.6%. The most common type of bone fractures was fracture of the alveolar process, which was prevalent in persons with mixed dentition. Before the age of 7 years, falls from height were the common causes of jaw fractures. The major cause of the jaw fractures in children from 7 to 15 years old was road accidents (47.1%), especially in boys. Most of these were cycling accidents, only a few patients were victims of automobile accidents. In addition, about one third (25.7%) of the patients were treated in the hospital because of multiple injuries to other organs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kotilainen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kärjä
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kullaa-Mikkonen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000293:injuries; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007572:Jaw Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008337:Mandibular Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology; D008440:Maxillary Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies