Objective To analyse the pattern, aetiology and demography of maxillofacial injuries seen at our centre between October 2008 and December 2009.

Methods A prospective descriptive study. The data for each patient was recorded on a proforma which was serialised to obtain information on demography, cause and type of maxillofacial injury including treatment offered and complications.

Results A total of 156 patients presented with maxillofacial injuries during the study period. Age range of the patients was 2–66 years while the male: female was 102:54. 68.6% (n=107) were due to road traffic crashes, 21.7% from violence (n=34), falls accounted for 5.8% (n=9) while 3.9% (n=6) were due to sport related activities. Motor bike accident accounted for higher proportion of the road crashes (63.6%) and most of the victims (64.7%) were not wearing any protective device as at the time accident. Mandibular fractures was the commonest skeletal injury (33.3%) followed by dentoalveolar fractures (21.8%) while 28 cases of midface fractures (17.9%) were seen. Only 42 cases of isolated soft injuries (26.9%) presented and they were mostly facial/oral lacerations (78.6%). 23 patients in our series had other associated injuries of which craniocerebral injury in the commonest (43.5%).

Conclusion there is considerable morbidity and mortality associated with maxillofacial injuries among Nigerian population probably because legislation on the use of seatbelt, drunken driving, helmet use and other preventive measures are not strictly enforced.