Maxillofacial trauma in the gulf countries: a systematic review

Purpose: The objective of this review was to determine the prevalence, major causative factors and the most common sites of Maxillofacial Trauma in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries. Methods: All articles that were published in the English language in the databases such as Google Scholar, EBSCO, PubMed, NCBI, Medline, COCHRANE, ELSEVIER and SCOPUS were reviewed for MFT from GCC during the last 23 years. Results: A total of 19,151 patients (16,567 males and 2584 females) (86–14%) with an age range between 0 and 97 years were included in the study. In all of the Gulf countries males outnumber females in terms of maxillofacial injuries with a ratio of 6.4:1. The mandible was the most common site of trauma followed by the maxilla. Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) was the most common cause of injury in the GCC followed by falls. Conclusion: Maxillofacial injuries are highly prevalent, distributed among the Gulf countries, and is mainly caused by RTAs especially among males who are highly prone to MFT in the gulf. The reasons are due to lack of road safety culture and weak enactment of traffic legislation, other possible factors include intrinsic car safety features, high speed driving and the amount/use of highways in these societies.