Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Feb;5(1):29-35.
doi: 10.4047/jap.2013.5.1.29. Epub 2013 Feb 28.

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

Pradeep Kumar  1 , Habib Ahmad Alvi, Jitendra Rao, Balendra Pratap Singh, Sunit Kumar Jurel, Lakshya Kumar, Himanshi Aggarwal
Affiliations

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

Pradeep Kumar et al. J Adv Prosthodont. 2013 Feb.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Maxillectomy; Obturator prosthesis; Oral cancer; Quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. What quality of life? The WHOQOL Group. World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment. World Health Forum. 1996;17:354–356. - PubMed
    1. The World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment (WHOQOL): position paper from the World Health Organization. Soc Sci Med. 1995;41:1403–1409. - PubMed
    1. Felce D, Perry J. Quality of life: its definition and measurement. Res Dev Disabil. 1995;16:51–74. - PubMed
    1. Irish J, Sandhu N, Simpson C, Wood R, Gilbert R, Gullane P, Brown D, Goldstein D, Devins G, Barker E. Quality of life in patients with maxillectomy prostheses. Head Neck. 2009;31:813–821. - PubMed
    1. Borlase G. Use of obturators in rehabilitation of maxillectomy defects. Ann R Australas Coll Dent Surg. 2000;15:75–79. - PubMed