Pediatric mandibular fractures.

In spite of curiosity, facial fractures, particularly mandibular fractures, in the pediatric age group embrace only a modest proportion of facial fractures that occur within the general population. Several large series report an overall incidence of approximately 1% of all facial bone fractures. A considerable volume of literature has been generated describing the pattern of injury and treatment modalities for pediatric facial bone fractures. At our institution, which is an extremely busy university-based regional trauma center, we have witnessed a persistent escalation in the number of patients requiring repair of their facial bone fractures. During the period of January 1989 through January 1990, we treated a total of 204 patients for repair of mandible fractures. An analysis of the records of this group revealed only 3 patients who were younger than 4 years of age and 2 additional patients younger than 8 years. There were another 10 patients 17 years and younger, for a total incidence of 0.08%. Additionally, we found that within this seemingly small group, there was a surprisingly high incidence of severe, associated injuries.