Maxillofacial fractures associated with sport injuries: a review of the current literature

INTRODUCTION: Sport related maxillofacial injuries are progressively increasing, especially in the richest countries. The aim of this paper, therefore, was to review and discuss articles that were published during the past 18 years regarding the distribution and characteristics of sport-related facial injuries throughout the world. EVIDENCE ACQUISITI ON: We systematically reviewed all papers about sport related facial fractures that were published in English between January 2000 and December 2017. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: The percentage of sport as an etiological factor for facial fractures was higher in Europe and Oceania. In sport injuries, males outnumbered females. The most frequent sport was soccer, with some peculiarities due to local diffusion of sports, such as rugby in New Zealand. In most studies the two most frequent sites of injury were the mandible and the zygomatic maxillary complex. CONCLUSIONS: Further multicentre studies with the assessment of preventive measures and long term observation results are needed to clarify their efficacy for maxillofacial injury prevention.