Assessment of the quality of life in maxillectomy patients: A longitudinal study

PURPOSE: To longitudinally assess the quality of life in maxillectomy patients rehabilitated with obturator prosthesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-six subjects were enrolled in the span of 16 months, out of which six were dropouts. Subjects (age group 20-60 years) with maxillary defects, irrespective of the cause, planned for definite obturator prosthesis, were recruited. The Hindi version of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, Head and Neck version 1 of Quality of Life Questionnaire was used before surgical intervention and one month after definitive obturator. Questionnaire includes 35 questions related to the patient's physical health, well being, psychological status, social relation and environmental conditions. The data were processed with statistical package for social science (SPSS). Probability level of P<.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The quality of life after rehabilitation with obturator prosthesis was 81.48% (+/-13.64) on average. On item-level, maximum mean scores were obtained for items problem with teeth (1.87 +/- 0.94), pain in mouth (1.80 +/- 0.92), trouble in eating (1.70 +/- 0.88), trouble in talking to other people (1.60 +/- 1.22), problems in swallowing solid food (1.57 +/- 1.22) and bothering appearance (1.53 +/- 1.04); while minimum scores were obtained for the items coughing (1.17 +/- 0.38), hoarseness of voice (1.17 +/- 0.53), painful throat (1.13 +/- 0.43), trouble in having social contacts with friends (1.10 +/- 0.40) and trouble having physical contacts with family or friends (1.10 +/- 0.31). CONCLUSION: Obturator prosthesis is a highly positive and non-invasive approach to improve the quality of life of patients with maxillectomy defects.

Finger prosthesis with an alternative approach

This report describes the case of a 42 years old male patient whose one right hand finger was partially lost as a result of occupational trauma. A modified impression technique was used for impression making and wax pattern was fabricated using the normal hand of the same patient. A special type of wax was formulated to make a pattern which was easily molded and carved. Two indexed casts were used to determine the length of fingers. Intrinsic and extrinsic staining was also done to match the adjacent skin colour. A ring was used as a retentive method. The patient was highly appreciative of the social acceptance after he started wearing the finger prosthesis