RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: This study describes the facial fractures of patients at a reference center in oral and maxillofacial surgery of a Public University Hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, from January 2003 to December 2012. METHODS: The data were collected from medical records and included the fractured bones, etiology, gender, and age of the patients. A total of 202 cases were identified, and 159 were included in the study (129 men and 30 women). RESULTS: The mandible was the most commonly injured bone (90 cases, 73 men and 17 women) with a mean age of 33.7 years old (±15.2), and traffic accidents (75 cases) were shown to be the major cause. CONCLUSION: In the city of Rio de Janeiro, young men in their fourth decade of life are prone to trauma to their facial bones, especially the mandible, and they are most commonly caused by traffic accidents.