Influence of COVID-19 pandemic on mandible fractures – Multicentric study

Objective

It is expected that the number of patients with mandible fractures will be affected by the global spread of COVID-19 because of a decline in physical activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of mandible fractures before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Patients with mandible fracture who visited our department or a nearby associated medical institution were surveyed, with 242 enrolled. The time period was divided into 2017–2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2020–2022, during the pandemic.

Results

There were 138 cases before and 104 during the pandemic. The majority of patients before the pandemic were teenagers, while the majority during the pandemic were in their 20 s. Before the pandemic, May had the greatest number of patients and the greatest number during the pandemic was in December. A fall was the most common cause of injury during both time periods. Both before and during the pandemic, the most common period of time to visit a doctor following an incident was less than one day. During both time periods, the condyle was the most common fracture site, with surgical therapy the most common treatment strategy used throughout the term of the study.

Conclusions

The number of patients with mandible fractures decreased after the beginning of the pandemic, which is considered to be due to a decrease in social activities associated with refraining from going out due to the declaration of state of emergency. These findings suggest a relationship between social activities and risk of mandible fracture.