Introduction: One of the most common presentations to the on-call oral and maxillofacial surgeon in the emergency department is a fractured mandible.

We look at the pattern of mandibular fractures presented to a peripheral trauma unit, demographics, aetiology and their treatment protocol. In particular, we look at the stay in hospital and their antibiotic regime.

Method: A retrospective review of patients records and radiographs was involved to collate data over a 5 year period from the Oral and Maxillofacial admissions at this unit. This provided a cohort of 221 patients. Their clinical notes indicated the other parameters involved in their treatment to include age, gender, aetiology, site, surgical and post operative management.

Conclusion: Assessing the data, it was found that the most common pattern of fracture was sustained by the male population in their third decade; sustaining fractures to both the anterior mandible and angle. This most frequently affected the left angle and right parasymphysis.

The most common causative factor in the cohort was an alleged assault. Combination antimicrobial therapy was most routinely prescribed as prophylactic antibiotic cover for those patients with compound fractures. The mean time to theatre was 1 day and 6 h and the mean total stay was within trust recommendations. The data shows an 8% DNA rate and an 18% complication rate for those that were reviewed following their surgical management.

Conflict of interest: None declared.