In this study, we clinically observed 146 patients with sports-related oral and maxillofacial fractures treated at the First Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Osaka University Faculty of Dentistry during the past 15 years. The results were as follows.
Among 146 patients, 134 were male and 12 were female. Although 62.5% of the patients were 15 to 24 years of age, there was an annual trend toward a decrease in patients aged 15 to 19 years. The most common causative sport event was baseball (54 patients), followed by rugby football (26 patients) and soccer (15 patients). There was also a decrease in baseballrelated cases and an increase in soccer-related cases in recent years. Isolated mandibular fractures occurred in 92 patients, and the most common site was the mandibular angle, followed by the condyle and canine. Among 37 isolated midface fractures, the most common site was the zygomatic arch (14 patients).
Baseball-related mandibular fractures had a high incidence of two-line fractures and fractures of the anterior portion of the mandibular body as compared with other events.