Isolated Facial Fractures Cost U.S. Emergency Departments $280 Million in 2022

Edited by Dentaltown staff

Isolated facial fractures accounted for an estimated $280.3 million in U.S. emergency department costs during 2022, with hospital admission driving a disproportionate share of the total, according to a retrospective cohort study published Aug. 5 in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Researchers drew on the 2022 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, identifying adults with an isolated facial fracture by diagnosis code and excluding patients under 18. The analysis covered 135,763 weighted emergency department encounters. Mean patient age was 48.6 years, and 57% of patients were male.

Costs varied widely. The mean cost per encounter was $2,065, but the median was $1,151, with an interquartile range of $690 to $1,941. Investigators derived costs by applying hospital-specific cost-to-charge ratios to reported charges.

In the fully adjusted model, four factors were associated with higher expected cost, all with P < .001. Hospital admission carried a cost ratio of 3.26, treatment at a Level I trauma center 1.86, operative intervention 1.75, and mandible fracture 1.52.

The concentration of spending was striking. Encounters that ended in admission made up 6.14% of all visits but accounted for 31.9% of total national expenditures.

The authors concluded that isolated facial fractures impose substantial annual costs and that spending is driven largely by injury pattern and downstream care processes, particularly admission.

Tim T. Wang, Lang Liang, Salim Abdul-Wasay, Gary Warburton, Zachary S. Peacock, John Caccamese, and Cameron Lee conducted the study, which was published open access.

The analysis rests on administrative billing data from a single year and captures only the emergency department encounter. It does not account for follow-up visits, outpatient surgery, rehabilitation, or indirect costs such as lost work, so the figures describe acute institutional spending rather than the full economic weight of facial trauma.

Sources:
Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, “National Economic Burden and Cost Drivers of Isolated Facial Fractures in the United States,” published online Aug. 5, 2026: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278239126008360
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2026.07.026