Analysis of prosthodontic and surgical treatment of acquired palatal defect after maxillectomy

Kwon, Ho Beom; Hong, Jong rak

Abstract

One of the treatment methods for maxillary cancers or infections in maxilla is maxillectomy. Palatal defect can be resulted from this operation and it may cause functional problems with swallowing and speech, and psychological problems of patients. After maxillectomy, as rehabilitation, there can be two options. One is a prosthodontic treatment using obturator and the other is surgical reconstruction of defect with graft. As both methods have advantages and disadvantages, in determining treatment method after maxillectomy, various factors have to be considered. The purpose of this study is to compare the prosthodontic group to surgical group after maxillectomy with elapsed days prior to commencement of postoperative oral feeding, and to analyze the results of prosthodontic treatment and surgical treatment. During the period from March of 2000 to June of 2006, 74 patients were treatment by prosthodontic methods for maxillary defect. Among these patients, patients who had only velopharyngeal deficiency after surgery, whose data were incomplete, whose causes of palatal defect were not the treatment of diseases in maxilla, and who already had palatal defect due to previous surgery were excluded in this study. The patients who underwent maxillectomy for the treatment of diseases in the maxilla and were treated immediately after operation using surgical reconstruction or prosthodontic rehabilitation were included in this study. The records of 43 patients were reviewed to compare and to analyze the prosthodontic treatment and surgical reconstruction after maxillectomy. The median of days elapsed prior to commencement of postoperative oral feeding in the prosthodontic group was compared with data of surgical group. The data was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test (alpha= .05). Days elapsed prior to postoperative oral feeding commencement in the prosthodontic group were less than those in the surgical group.