Royal Medical Services Hospital Research Articles

Exploring Jordanian children and parents’ awareness, behavior, and perception of pediatric oral health

BackgroundTo evaluate children’s and parents’ practice and attitude toward oral hygiene and their knowledge about oral hygiene.MethodsThis cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted on randomly selected children who were seen in the Pediatric dentistry clinic in different Royal Medical Services hospitals. A modified questionnaire was used to gather information from the child or parents to gather the child’s demographic data and evaluate the children’s and parents’ practice and attitude toward oral hygiene, their knowledge about oral hygiene, information about the parent and family, and oral examination, the questionnaire questions' reliability and validity were assessed by test–retest and Cronbach's Alpha test.ResultsThree hundred seventy four patients were included, and the average age was 5.06 ± 3.58 SD years. Children’s and parents’ practice toward oral hygiene was inadequate where the majority (83.3%) brush their teeth occasionally, change their toothbrushes infrequently, apply toothpaste inappropriately, and less than half (47.2%) clean their tongue after teeth brushing. A significant number (73%) of candidates were aware that oral health has a significant role in their general health and can prevent dental problems. Participants agreed that maintaining a healthy mouth is an individual responsibility. The majority of participants came from large family size (the average family members 6.1 ± 1.7 SD) who live below the poverty line.ConclusionOur study demonstrated that awareness of oral health status in children below the age of 12 was poor. Although their oral knowledge was good their attitude and behavior were inadequate. These findings urge the need for expanded, well-organized, preventive educational programs that include school’s syllabus, house visits, and hospitals for parents and children alike.

Knowledge and Compliance With Standard Precautions Among Nurses.

The spread of microorganisms is caused by direct or indirect contact, respiratory droplets, and airborne transmission. Knowledge and compliance with standard precautions are crucial in preventing infection in the hospital. To assess the level of knowledge and compliance with standard precautions among registered nurses who work in military hospitals and the factors affecting compliance with standard precautions. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. Four hundred and eight registered nurses at three Jordanian Royal Medical Services hospitals completed an online self-report questionnaire using a convenience sampling technique. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 25 was used to analyze the data. The level of knowledge of standard precautions among nurses was excellent, with an overall mean score of 15.59 ± 2.22 out of 20; around half (54%) of them had an excellent level. Nurses' compliance with standard precautions was intermediate, with an overall mean score of 59.65 ± 14.57 out of 80. Forty-seven percent of nurses had a high degree of compliance. Compliance with standard precautions was correlated positively with age, working experience in years, total knowledge score, training in standard precautions, and availability of personal protective equipment, and negatively with exposure to sharp injuries. Nurses play a key role in preventing and managing hospital infections through their responsibility for a large proportion of patient treatment and care. Therefore, efforts should be made to improve nurses' perceptions of the basic elements of standard precautions. Even so, results showed that compliance with standard precautions was intermediate. This highlights the need to take the necessary measures to raise the level of compliance. Even so, results showed that compliance with standard precautions was intermediate. This highlights the need to take the necessary measures to raise the level of compliance.

Epidemiology of human brucellosis in military hospitals in Jordan: A five-year study

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease with significant impacts on livestock and human health. It is a severe community health burden in the Middle East with an estimated 2000 times higher prevalence than in North America and Western Europe. To date, there are limited studies on human brucellosis and risk factors for infection in Jordan. Our study aimed to analyze documented brucellosis cases in Jordan and use geographic and socio-demographic data to better understand its prevalence and transmission. This retrospective study examined electronic medical records describing 1,497 cases of febrile illness that were tested for brucellosis at Royal Medical Services hospitals between 2016 and 2020. A total of 465 confirmed brucellosis cases, aged 0 to 80 years were included. Serum samples were screened for anti-Brucella antibodies, and positive samples were additionally tested for antibody titer using the Wright tube agglutination test. Our results showed that 31.1% (456/1497) of the febrile diseases were brucellosis. We found that young adults and working age, northern governorates, rural location of residency, occupations involving regular contact with livestock, and Spring/Summer season were highly significant as risk factors. Seropositivity was highest among dairy factory workers with 64.4%. This study adds to our understanding of human brucellosis in Jordan and its impact on public health. These data will be useful in the prevention of brucellosis and will inform reliable disease control policies.

Acute Scrotum in Pediatric: Clinical Presentation and Management in Royal Medical Services Hospitals

Objectives: Children with acute scrotum usually present with acute scrotal pain. To rule out testicular torsion with consequent ischemia, this complaint is considered a top emergency that should be treated quickly. The objective of this study was to assess the clinical presentation and treatment of the acute scrotum in pediatric surgery. Method: A prospective study, which included 107 patients, was conducted in Queen Rania Hospital, Jordan, in the period January 2016–April 2020. Patients above 14 years old and those under conservative treatment, such as IV antibiotics for epididymo-orchitis, were excluded. In addition to scrotal exploration, the diagnosis was made via Doppler ultrasonography (DUS). Results: The main results revealed that the causes of acute scrotum are testicular torsion (35.5%), epididymo-orchitis (20.5%), torted hydatid of Morgagni (28.9%), hematoma (4.6%), scrotal abscess (1.8%), and tumor (0.9%). The most common signs and symptoms were tenderness (86%), erythema (77.6%), and edema (71.9%). In patients with testicular torsion, the salvage rate was around 65.8% for surgeries performed in durations up to 48 h from symptom onset. Conclusion: Testicular torsion is the most significant diagnosis that leads to testicular loss.

Frequency of Bone Injuries examined in the Emergency Departments of the Royal Medical Services hospital, Jordan

Subjective Idiopathic Tinnitus is a common and disturbing condition characterized by an auditory perception of sound...

Upper Limb Prosthesis Evaluation in Amman-Jordan

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate upper limb prosthesis in Amman-Jordan and to give a general overview about some of the basic characteristics of upper limb prostheses. It also aims to investigate how patients consider the prosthetic aspects and how they arrange their priorities to accept upper limb prostheses according to their interests and demands.
 Study Design: A cross sectional study.
 Subjects and Methods: The study is conducted in Jordan in three different clinics. These clinics are in three different regions of Amman; Albashir Hospital, Medic Step Center, and Royal Medical Services Hospital. The sample of the study includes fifteen Participants; upper limb amputees already fitted and using prosthesis were selected to participate in this questionnaire-based study. There were no exclusion criteria due to the limited number of upper limb amputees in Amman-Jordan. A 59-item questionnaire was designed to cover all important aspects of evaluation for upper limb prosthesis. Data were collected and processed with SPSS statistics program.
 Results: The data analysis reveals that the first priority for this group of amputees is fitting and suspension with the mean rating (4.74), comfort with mean rating of (4.73), appearance (4.4), ease of donning and doffing (3.87), function, durability, cost (3.47),(2.13),(1.8) respectively.
 Conclusion: Upper limb amputees in Amman-Jordan were found to have some priorities regarding accepting prostheses. The first priority was fitting and suspension followed by comfort, next is appearance followed by ease of donning and doffing then comes function, durability and cost respectively.

Medication Non-adherence in Patients with Osteoporosis: Implications for Clinical Pharmacists and Osteoporosis Care Providers.

Poor adherence to the prescribed therapy leads to low bone mineral density and enhance the development of osteoporosis complications and unnecessary hospitalization. To explore factors associated with medication non-adherence in patients with osteoporosis. Findings would help guide the development of future pharmaceutical care interventions aim at improving health outcomes for patients with osteoporosis. The study was conducted at an outpatient osteoporosis clinic at the Royal Medical Services Hospital. Variables including socio-demographics and medical factors were collected using medical records and custom-designed questionnaire. Medication adherence was assessed using the validated 4-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Logistic regression was performed to develop a model with variables that best predicted medication non-adherence in patients with osteoporosis in Jordan. A total of 296 patients participated in the study. Most of the study participants (72.3%) were found non-adherent. Patients were found less likely to adhere to the prescribed medications with each unit increase in the number of prescribed medications (OR = 2.503, CI = 1.103-5.680) and if they did not have a trust in the efficacy of the medications (OR = 5.544, CI = 0.990-31.058). Medication adherence for patients with osteoporosis has considered scope for improvement in Jordan. Simplifying dosage regimen in addition to taking patients' preferences when selecting the medications should be taken into account in future interventions designed to improve health outcomes for patients with osteoporosis.

Infantile Hemangioma Treatment with Topical and Systemic Beta-Blockers : An Experience at Royal Medical Services Hospitals

Infantile Hemangioma Treatment with Topical and Systemic Beta-Blockers : An Experience at Royal Medical Services Hospitals

Patients’ perspective of the impact of COPD on quality of life: a focus group study for patients with COPD

Background The quality of life has been shown to be poor in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, patients' perspective and attitudes toward COPD and its impact on their quality of life have been remarkably ignored. Objective To explore patients' views and perceptions regarding COPD and its impact on their quality of life. Setting COPD clinic at the Royal Medical Services Hospital, Amman, Jordan. Method Focus groups discussions to explore patients' views and perceptions about COPD were conducted using purposive sampling technique till data saturation achieved. A predesigned topic guides including knowledge about COPD and its management and the impact of COPD on the quality of life in patients with COPD was used to facilitate discussion during the interviews. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Main outcome measure Impact of COPD on patients' quality of life. Results The main themes emerged included information needs about COPD and its management, physical and psychological impact of COPD and reliance on others. The most commonly expressed problem was breathlessness which restricted physical activity and led to panic and anxiety attacks. Constant breathlessness coupled with anxiety can force COPD patient to avoid all physical activity and becoming reliant on others. Conclusion In addition to the lack of knowledge about COPD and its management, it was evident that COPD had a negative physical and psychological impact on COPD patients. Future disease management and clinical pharmacy services programs should address the current study findings in order to improve the health outcomes for patients with COPD.

A focus group study of patient’s perspective and experiences of type 2 diabetes and its management in Jordan

BackgroundDiabetes is increasingly becoming a major health problem in Jordan and glycemic goals are often not achieved. ObjectiveTo explore the patients’ perspectives regarding type 2 diabetes and its management in order to “fine-tune” future pharmaceutical care intervention programs. MethodFocus groups method was used to explore views from individuals with type 2 diabetes attending outpatient diabetes clinic at the Royal Medical Services Hospital. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. ResultsA total of 6 focus groups, with 6 participants in each one, were conducted. Participants in the present study demonstrated a great information needs about diabetes and the prescribed treatment. Medication regimen characteristics including rout of administration, number of prescribed medications and dosage frequency in addition to perceived side effects represented the major barriers to medication adherence. In addition to demonstrating negative beliefs about the illness and the prescribed medications, participants showed negative attitudes and low self-efficacy to adhere to necessary self-care activities including diet, physical activity and self-monitoring of blood glucose. ConclusionFuture pharmaceutical care interventions designed to improve patients’ adherence and health outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes should consider improving patients’ understanding of type 2 diabetes and its management, simplifying dosage regimen, improving patient's beliefs and attitudes toward type 2 diabetes, prescribed medications and different self-care activities in addition to improving patient's self efficacy to perform different treatment recommendations.

The Relationship between Primary Infertility and Depression among Women Attending Royal Medical Services Hospitals in Jordan

Being a mother is a passion and dream for each woman, that’s the humanized effect and unconditional love between child and mother. Building family is the main target of marriage, it involves relationships between wife husband and children, but some of couples live a distressing experience about bearing a child; one of this is the infertility. Infertility is categorized as primary, secondary infertility and sterility. According to the Center of Disease and Control Prevention (CDC) primary infertility defined as the inability to get pregnancy (conceive) after one year of unprotected sex. There are various causes of infertility in both men and women, they are mainly physiological dysfunctions and few of the causes are endocrine logical, anatomical, genetic and immunological reasons. Some of the physiological causes are related to the ovaries: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), diminished ovarian reveres (DOR), premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), tubal occlusion and the causes may related to physical characteristics of the uterus.

Cancellation of Elective Surgical Procedures : a Single Royal Medical Services Hospital Experience

Objectives: To determine the percentage, reasons and possible suggested measures to reduce the rate of cancellation of elective surgical operations. Methods: This descriptive study was performed at Queen Alia military hospital (QAH) in the period between January 1 st 2011 and January 1 st 2012 by collecting and analyzing the daily records of cancelled elective operations. Results: A total of 7163 patients were scheduled for elective surgeries during the study period, 6601 patients had their operation performed at the scheduled time. 553 patients had their operation cancelled at the day of surgery and the percentage of cancellations was 7.72%. The highest number of cancellation was observed in December (70 cases out of 646 scheduled cases 10.84%) whereas February had the lowest number of cancellations (23 cases out of 572 scheduled cases. 4.02%). General surgery and orthopaedics had the highest number of cancellation (186 and 177 respectively) whereas ENT and maxillofacial surgery had the least number of cancellations (38 and 10 respectively). The most common causes for cancellations were patient-related, around 68% of the cancellations were due to patients’ absence and their medical fitness for surgery at the day of planned operation, and the other causes of cancellations were due to lack of time (overbooked list) or lack of necessary equipments and devices. Conclusions: The percentage of surgical cancellation at our hospital is relatively low; most of the cancellations could be easily avoided by efficient planning, proper communication with the patients and proper preoperative medical assessment.

Malignant Tumors of the Oral Cavity among Jordanians

Objective: To determine the incidence of primary malignant tumors of the oral cavity in Jordan and to compare the incidence rates among Jordanian population with world standard population. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted during the period 2000 and 2007, on 156 cases with histological diagnosis of primary malignant tumors of the oral cavity. The cases were registered and received by active case finding from the maxillofacial departments at the Royal Medical Services Hospitals, Hospitals of the Ministry of Health, Hospitals of Jordan University and Jordan University of Science and Technology and private hospitals. The records included the age, sex and primary site. The age-adjusted standardized rates were calculated and the incidence rates among Jordanian population were compared with the other world standard population. Results: Over seven years, the primary malignant tumors of the oral cavity in Jordan accounted for 156 cases, of these 96 (61.5%) were males and 60 (38.5%) were females, with a male to female ratio of 1.6: 1. The overall age-adjusted standardized rate was 5.26 per 100,000 (standard world population), and the age-adjusted standardized rates was 6.60 per 100,000 males and 3.87 per 100,000 females. The squamous cell carcinoma was the most common accounting for 67.3% of all oral cavity malignant tumors. On the other hand the most frequent site of oral malignant tumors in Jordan was lips for males, accounting for 23.7% while the tongue was the most common site of oral cavity tumor in Jordan for both sexes accounting for 18.6%, and the age-adjusted standardized rate was somewhat equal in both sexes: 1.01/100,000 versus 0.96/100 000, respectively. Conclusion: The age-adjusted rate of primary malignant tumors in Jordan was 5.26 per 100,000 (standard world population). The frequency rate increased with increasing age and was more common in males. The squamous cell carcinoma was the most common type with a tendency for a tongue cancer in both sexes and lip cancer becoming more frequent in males.

Predictors of non-adherence to pharmacotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The prevalence of diabetes in Jordan is among the highest in the world, making it a particularly alarming health problem there. It has been indicated that poor adherence to the prescribed therapy lead to poor glycemic control and enhance the development of diabetes complications and unnecessary hospitalization. To explore factors associated with medication nonadherence in patients with type 2 diabetes in Jordan. Findings would help guide the development of future pharmaceutical care interventions for patients with type 2 diabetes. This study was conducted in an outpatient diabetes clinic at the Royal Medical Services Hospital. Variables including sociodemographics, disease and therapy factors, diabetes knowledge, health-related quality of life in addition to adherence assessment were collected for 171 patients with type 2 diabetes using medical records, custom-designed and validated questionnaires. Logistic regression was performed to develop a model with variables that best predicted medication non-adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes in Jordan. Variables which significantly and independently associated with medication nonadherence in patients with type 2 diabetes in Jordan. Patients were found four times less likely to adhere to their medications with each unit increase in the number of prescribed medications (OR = 0.244, CI = 0.08-0.63) and nine times less likely to adhere to their medications if they received more than once daily dosing of diabetic medication (OR = 0.111, CI = 0.04-2.01). Patients in the present study were also approximately three times less likely (OR = 0.362, CI = 0.24-0.87) and twice less likely (OR = 0.537, CI = 0.07-1.31) to adhere to their medications if they reported having concerns about side effects and if they were taking metformin therapy respectively. Finally, participants were found twice more likely to adhere to medications if they had one or more Microvascular complication (OR = 0.493, CI = 0.08-1.16). Simplifying dosage regimen, selecting treatments with lower side effects along with an emphasis on diabetes complications should be taken into account in future interventions designed to improve health outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Pediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Lesions : A 26 Year Retrospective Review

Objectives: To study the occurrence, distribution, types, and clinical presentation of the common maxillofacial lesions occurring in children and teens. Methods: A total of 141 histopathology reports of patients, who had been diagnosed, treated and followed up at the maxillofacial units as an outpatient and inpatient at two main Royal Medical Services Hospitals of Jordan (King Hussein Medical Center and Prince Rashid hospital) between 1985 and 2011 were included in this study. Results: Male to female ratio was 1.5:1. The highest percentage of lesions was seen in children aged 11 years. The majority of the lesions were inflammatory and reactive lesions seen in 36% of patients followed by cystic lesions in 22 %, and odontogenic tumors in 10.5% of patients. Non odontogenic tumors constituted 21.3% and malignant tumors 5%. Lesions presented as swellings were 47.5%, masses 45.4%, and as an ulceration 7.1%. Conclusion: Inflammatory and cystic lesions remain the most commonly encountered oral and maxillofacial lesions in children and teens; malignant tumors are extremely rare and pose difficulty regarding the origin of the tissue they arise from and the modality of treatment to be involved.

Hodgkin's disease in adults: the royal medical services experience

Background: The aim of this study to examine our experience in the presentation and management and to determine the factors that potentially influenced the outcome in 96 patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Methods: A retrospective study done at oncology unit in royal medical services hospitals, a total 96 patient whom diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma between 2005 and 2013, data include age, sex of patients, presenting and duration of symptoms, staging of disease, and prognosis of disease. Results: 66 males and 30 females, the most common enlarged lymph node was at cervical region. The most common histopathology subtype was nodular sclerosis. Most of our patients were staged as stage 4. Systemic symptoms developed in 50 (52%) patients. The most common site of extralymphatic involvement was lung. Complete remission was noted in all 29 patients whom presented with early stages of disease and less in advanced stages. Failure of remission post treatment was noticed more in mixed cellularity and lymphocyte rich subtypes. On regular follow up of patients 8 patients whom were in complete remission developed relapse of disease; mean time of relapse was 9 months post remission. Conclusion: Hodgkin’s lymphoma has high rates of cure. Epidemiological, clinical, histological and therapeutic results in our series are similar to those Western series. Long term evaluation is necessary to assess relapse and late toxicity treatment.

Pediatric Oncology Situation Analysis (Jordan)

This article highlights the current situation of pediatric oncology in Jordan by reviewing the available population based data from the surveillance. Cancer among children aged less than 15 years make up 4 to 6% of all registered new cancer cases in all ages each year. The major types of cancer in females for the year 2008 are leukemia 32.2%, central nervous system 18.8%, skeletal and soft tissue 8.8%, lymphomas 5.5%, and sympathetic 5.5%, whereas in males, they are leukemia 28.1%, central nervous system 18.8%, lymphomas 16.2%, skeletal and soft tissue 7% and sympathetic 6.3%. Children with cancer receive treatment through pediatric oncology wards in King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) and Royal Medical Services hospital or through pediatric departments in King Abdullah university Hospital and Princes Rahma hospital with full government coverage of the treatment expenses. Currently the pediatric palliative care program is limited to KHCC which provides inpatient care, and out-patients and drop-in care on a daily basis to provide symptom management, counseling, and other services as appropriate. The lack of palliative care in other hospital and pediatric home care coverage stress the need to develop special plan of action to initiate these services.

Impact of pharmaceutical care on health outcomes in patients with COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment goals are often not achieved despite the availability of many effective treatments. Furthermore, clinical pharmacist interventions to improve clinical and humanistic outcomes in COPD patients have not yet been explored and few randomized controlled trials have been reported to evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical care on health outcomes in patients with COPD. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical care intervention, with a strong focus on self-management, on a range of clinical and humanistic outcomes in patients with COPD. Outpatient COPD Clinic at the Royal Medical Services Hospital. In a randomised, controlled, prospective clinical trial, a total of 133 COPD patients were randomly assigned to intervention or control group. A structured education about COPD and management of its symptoms was delivered by the clinical pharmacist for patients in the intervention group. Patients were followed up at 6 months during a scheduled visit. Effectiveness of the intervention was assessed in terms of improvement in health-related quality of life, medication adherence, disease knowledge and healthcare utilization. Data collected at baseline and at the 6 month assessment was coded and entered into SPSS(®) software version 17 for statistical analysis. A P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The primary outcome measure was health-related quality of life improvement. All other data collected including healthcare utilization, COPD knowledge and medication adherence formed secondary outcome measures. A total of 66 patients were randomized to the intervention group and 67 patients were randomized to the control group. Although the current study failed to illustrate significant improvement in health-related quality of life parameters, the results indicated significant improvements in COPD knowledge (P < 0.001), medication adherence (P < 0.05), medication beliefs (P < 0.01) and significant reduction in hospital admission rates (P < 0.05) in intervention patients when compared with control group patients at the end of the study. The enhanced patient outcomes as a result of the pharmaceutical care programme in the present study demonstrate the value of an enhanced clinical pharmacy service in achieving the desired health outcomes for patients with COPD.

The response of Acne vulgaris to antibiotics both oral and topical

Background: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that involves pilosebaceous units. Many systemic treatments used for acne vulgaris such as antibiotics, hormonal therapy, isotretinoin and occasionally, corticosteroids. Oral azithromycin has been advocated by some in the treatment of acne, but its efficacy has not been established.Objectives: To compare the efficacy and safety of Azithromycin and doxycycline in the treatment of inflammatory acne.Methods: This study was conducted on 50 patients who attended the outpatient clinic of the Royal medical services hospital, Jordan. In the first group, oral azithromycin 500 mg was administered daily before meals for 3 consecutive days in a l0-day cycle, with the remaining seven days in each cycle being drug-free days. The second group was given doxycycline 100 mg daily after meals. Topical erythromycin was prescribed to all patients. Clinical follow-up assessment was done at l0-day intervals for both the groups up to three months.Results: The study showed 70% improvement in azithromycin treated group in comparison to 60% in the doxycycline treated group. There was a statistically significant reduction in severity in the azithromycin treated group.Conclusion: The results show that azithromycin is a safe and effective alternative in the treatment of inflammatory acne with few side-effects and good compliance, a combination of azithromycin with topical erythromycin was significantly better than doxycycline with topical erythromycin in the treatment of acne vulgaris. The incidence of side effects were less with azithromycin.

Maxillofacial fractures in Jordan; a 5 year retrospective review

AbstractAim: Maxillofacial fractures constitute a major part of trauma cases. This retrospective study was carried out to assess the causes, types, incidence and associated regional complications of maxillofacial fractures managed at three Royal Medical Services hospitals during a 5 year period and to compare them with the existing related literature.Materials and methods: The medical records and radiographs of 620 patients treated for maxillofacial fractures at three Jordanian Royal Medical Services hospitals over a 5 year period (from 2001 to 2006) were retrospectively reviewed. A number of parameters, including the patient's age, gender, mechanism of injury, type of facial injuries, treatment modality and associated complications were recorded and assessed.Results: The majority of fractures were caused by road traffic accidents (75%), followed by falls (12%), violent assaults (8%) and others (5%). There were 395 (54%) mandibular, 264 (36%) maxillary, 44 (6%) naso‐orbital and 29 (4%) zygomatic fractures. Different treatment modalities were used according to the site of fracture. Males 18 to 35 years of age sustained the most maxillofacial fractures. The ratio of males to females was 9:1. Various types of regional complications were recorded in 68 patients (10.9%)Conclusion: The findings of this study, compared with similar studies reported in the literature, support the view that the causes and incidence of maxillofacial fractures vary from one country to another with the road traffic accidents being the leading cause. Greater efforts toward prevention and treatment programmes are highly recommended.