Jaw fractures in children.

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.