Mónica de la Fuente Escalona; Hilda Moris Vidal; Rodrigo Bravo Ahumada & Marcelo Mardones Muñoz
Summary
Maxillofacial surgery is a medical-surgical specialty that deals with both diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the craniofacial territory. In Chile there are few epidemiological studies in maxillofacial surgery that describe in detail the type of interventions performed beyond maxillofacial trauma, and that also involve the COVID-19 pandemic period. The aim of the study was to update the epidemiology of surgical resolution under general anesthesia at the Hospital San José in Santiago de Chile between 2018 and 2021 and to compare it with the study performed at the same hospital between 2007 and 2013. A retrospective study was performed with 607 patients. Information was collected according to age, patient gender and type of intervention. Of the total number of interventions performed, 176 (29%) corresponded to maxillofacial trauma and 431 (71%) to surgeries of non-traumatic etiology. Average age of 38.7 years. Male to female sex ratio of 1.28:1. The most frequent fracture was mandibular (59.66%), followed by orbito-zygomatic (23.86%) and panfacial (4.55%). In surgeries of non-traumatic etiology, interventions for dentofacial dysmorphosis predominated (23.2%), followed by tumors of the jaws (20.41%), oral lesions (18.56%), dental defocations (16.24%), infections (8.81%), temporomandibular joint pathologies (8.35%) and finally removal of osteosynthesis material (4.41%). Interventions of non-traumatic etiology and resolution of mandibular fractures were the procedures most performed by the unit. The knowledge of these data and the comparison with the previous study allows us to observe the change in epidemiology, which can be explained by the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the above, both types of interventions should be approached in a comprehensive manner and with the appropriate conditions. To this end, it is important to focus resources in these areas and to develop more training in them.
KEY WORDS: epidemiology, maxillofacial surgery, maxillofacial trauma, maxillofacial procedures, hospital.
How to cite this article
DE LA FUENTE, E. M.; MORIS, V. H.; BRAVO, A. R. & MARDONES, M. M. Epidemiological Update of Maxillofacial Surgical Treatments in a Public Hospital in Santiago de Chile: A Comparative Retrospective Study of 4 Years. Int. J. Odontostomat., 17(3):268-273, 2023.