Maxillofacial injuries and violence against women.

OBJECTIVE: 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.

METHODS: 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.

RESULTS: 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).

CONCLUSION: 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.