Introduction:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, new safety measures were implemented in all sectors. However, the Maxillofacial Surgery specialty kept on, where emergency patients were not left unattended.

Objective:

To characterize the maxillofacial emergencies attended at the Hospital Clínico Quirúrgico Docente "Celia Sánchez Manduley" in Manzanillo, during the COVID-19 related epidemiological situation.

Method:

An observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was applied on 358 patients in the period between September 2020 and April 2021. The variables studied were as follow: age groups, sex, month when patients were attended, maxillofacial emergency´s motive, therapeutic behavior and patients with COVID-19 related symptoms.

Results:

The most affected age group was ≥ 60 (22.6%), with predominance in male sex (54.2%). Most patients were attended in November and December (20.3%), the predominated maxillofacial emergencies were those associated to maxillofacial trauma (31.8%), followed by facial cellulitis (23.7%). In terms of treatment, the highest percentage of conservative treatment was associated with the medicamentation (88.3 %), while wound suturing practice predominated in surgical treatment (18.2 %). The symptom with the highest incidence was fever (3.4 %). The 61.5 % of the maxillofacial surgeons were infected with COVID-19.

Conclusions:

Maxillofacial emergencies are more frequent in males; maxillofacial trauma and facial cellulitis predominate. The maxillofacial surgery service is vulnerable to the coronavirus infection.

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