Maxillofacial injuries and violence against women

To determine if patterns of facial injuries differed between those of female assault victims with maxillofacial injuries and those of female patients with maxillofacial injuries from other causes.

We reviewed the medical and dental records of 326 adult female facial trauma patients treated by otolaryngologists and oral/maxillofacial surgeons at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Information abstracted included date of injury, dates of presentation for medical attention, mechanism(s) of injury, diagnoses, and treatments.

While victims of intimate partner violence were more likely to have zygomatic complex fractures, orbital blow-out fractures, and intracranial injuries than were other patients with facial trauma, women assaulted by unknown or unidentified assailants were more likely to have mandible fractures (P = .004).

These results in conjunction with other presenting circumstances, such as delay in presentation, can assist the surgeon treating patients with maxillofacial injury in recognizing interpersonal violence against women.