FRACTURES OF FACIAL BONES.

A detailed review was made of 1025 consecutive patients with "face-bone" fractures admitted to four Montreal hospitals over the five-year period 1958-1962, inclusive. In addition a survey was carried out of the other general hospitals in Greater Montreal in order to obtain admission figures for facial-bone fractures and for total hospital cases. In the study group the common causes of face-bone fractures were found to be fights, traffic accidents, falls, and athletic pursuits. Very few of these injuries occurred in industrial settings. A distinctly vulnerable group is made up of males between ages 16 and 35 years. In order of frequency of occurrence these injuries involve the nose, lower jaw, cheekbone, upper jaw, and zygomatic arch. The experience throughout metropolitan Montreal indicated that more persons with face-bone fractures require hospital treatment each year, but the increase is approximately parallel to the upward trend of total hospital admissions.