The presence of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in the bullfighting festivities would save lives.

The head and neck injuries are the most serious

-the summer is the time more bullfighting festivals are held in Spain, because the patron

-Castilla y León is the community with more bullfights and professional novilladas and the worse equipped in oral and maxillofacial surgery

Madrid, 2011-July the presence of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in the vicinity of a bullfighting celebration could save lives and restore the functionality and quality of life to many of those suffering any mishap with the bulls, as he warns the Spanish society of surgery Oral and maxillofacial (SECOM)After analyzing the scientific literature on the subject.

This time is when the majority of hospitalizations related to bulls, according to a study of the Hospital of Castellón occur coinciding with the festivities that take place during the summer in the majority of our towns and cities ”. August is the month that more bullfighting festivities concentrates, 1879 last year. And the autonomous community with more popular bullfighting celebrations is the Valencian 5.227, almost half of the national total, followed by Castilla La Mancha (1.314) and Navarra (1199). For its part, Castile and León, Spain is the community with more bullfights and professional novilladas, 354 in 2010. It is also the worse equipped in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Of the 14 Spanish provinces that do not have these services of oral and maxillofacial surgery, most of them are in this community (Ávila, Segovia, Palencia, Burgos, Soria, Zamora). They also lack Caceres, Ceuta, Huesca, Logroño, Melilla, Ourense, Lugo, and Teruel.

In the bullfighting festivals are frequent coups, the crushing and the pisotones of the crowd, causing many injuries on his face, and although most are not serious many require intervention by a maxillofacial surgeon ”, explains Dr. Arturo Bilbao, President of SECOM. In addition, between 3 and 19 per cent of the onslaught of toro have effects on the head and neck, according to a study of the Clinical Hospital of Valencia and the Neurological Institute of the Cleveland Clinic, in United States, published in the latest issue of the journal Neurosurgery. This indicates that although wounds of head and neck are less frequent, severe and are more likely to result in death ” than injuries to other parts of the body. They also highlight the need for trained specialists to respond to these injuries.

The Act provides that in the most important celebrations will be a general surgeon or traumatologist at the head of the medical service, a first Assistant to any surgical specialty, a second degree in medicine, and a specialist in anaesthesia and resuscitation. However, the most frequent and most serious accidents tend to produce smaller and popular celebrations ”, where legal regulations is less demanding in terms of the allocation of resources and qualified personnel ”, according to research by Dr. Luis Antonio Sánchez Cuéllar, the service of Valladolid Hortega River Hospital maxillofacial and Oral surgery. In this regard, affirms that the oral and maxillofacial surgeon can be integrated into the packaging services of bullfights as an Assistant to the surgeon and traumatologist. The high incidence of injuries, wounds, control of air and cervico-facial vascular injury would justify his presence ”.

The study also reveals the importance of early treatment. In the squares of 1st and 2nd category the infirmaries are complete surgical equipment and patients are operated, almost always, at the moment. This is a key factor in the positive evolution and rapid recovery of the injured ”. Most of the head and neck injuries took place due to the crowds and not the bulls themselves, according to the doctor in the past sanfermines Joaquín Garatea, in the service of Oral surgery and maxillofacial of the Madonna Hospital in the way of Pamplona. The intervention of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, says, allows the majority of fractures and particularly can intervene successfully and that the patient does not have sequels ”.

The SECOM is a scientific society dedicated to the defense of the specialty and the promotion of science and outreach initiatives related to oral and maxillofacial interventions linked to deformities dentofacial, surgery dentoalveolar, trauma, the Oncology, temporomandibular articulation of head and neck pathologyinfections and salivary gland pathology.