Changing clinical features of odontogenic maxillofacial infections.

Odontogenic maxillofacial infections occasionally require hospital care. Our aim was to study whether the number and the clinical features of patients hospitalized due to odontogenic abscesses in a large hospital district in Finland had changed in one decade. A retrospective analysis of two 12-month study cohorts one decade apart from the same population base was conducted. The first cohort comprised 71 patients and the second cohort comprised 101 patients. The incidence of odontogenic infections requiring hospital care increased from 5.3 to 7.2 per 100,000 inhabitants. The need for intensive care increased significantly from 15% to 32%, and the maximal C-reactive protein levels were significantly higher in the latter cohort, 127 mg/L, compared to the first cohort, 104 mg/L. The proportion of previously healthy patients decreased significantly from 83% to 65%. Odontogenic maxillofacial infections have become more prevalent and more severe during the decade in our hospital district. An increasing proportion of patients had underlying diseases.