MAXILLOFACIAL PROSTHESIS IN THE REHABILITATION OF PATIENTS WITH ORAL TUMORS: CASE ANALYSIS AND IMPACT ON QUALITY OF LIFE

• Published in: Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology Vol. 129; no. 1; pp. e103 - e104
• Main Authors: RIBEIRO, GUILHERME HENRIQUE, DE OLIVEIRA, BEATRIZ SCHAFHAUSER, KOSMANN, CLEUMARA, DE MELLO, ANA LÚCIA SCHAEFER FERREIRA, LISBOA, MARIÁH LUZ, GRANDO, LILIANE JANETE
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01-01-2020
• ISSN: 2212-4403; 2212-4411
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oooo.2019.06.439

Maxillofacial prostheses (MFP) are used to rehabilitate patients who had oral cancer or benign tumors of large proportions that were treated with mutilating surgery and in the rehabilitation of the ones mutilated by firearms, accidents, or bone destruction by drug abuse. This study aimed to report the importance of MFP in the rehabilitation of 32 patients treated in a university hospital in southern Brazil over the past 7 years as well as to discuss their impact on the quality of life of its users. It was a mixed method approach. Quantitative data was collected through the Oral Health Impact Profile 14-item questionnaire. Also, patients provided qualitative information through face-to-face interviews, recorded and analyzed by the content analysis method. Results indicated MFP brought functional, aesthetic, and psychoemotional benefits to its users. It seems to play a key part in the rehabilitation of patients who underwent mutilating surgical treatments.