Subjective assessment of obturator functioning in patients with hemimaxillectomy

Aim: to assess the obturator functioning in patients with hemimaxillectomy using obturator prostheses.study design: cross-sectional survey.setting: de'montmorency college of dentistry/punjab dental hospital,lahore.duration of study: six months.methods: 50 hemimaxillectomy patients were included in the study. a questionnaire 'obturator functioning scale' was administered to these patients at least 2 weeks after the insertion of the obturator. the responses to all the questions were recorded on a 5-point likert scale. the problems encountered by the patients with the use of obturators were presented in the form of frequency and percentages.results: the most commonly found difficulty in the patients using obturators was difficulty in chewing foods(92%) followed by dry mouth(66%),leakage while swallowing(64%),numb upper lip(54%),avoidance of family and social events(48%),dissatisfaction with looks(46%),funny looking upper lip(46%),difficulty in inserting the obturator (32%),difficulty in talking in public(30%),noticeable clasps on front teeth(24%),difficulty in pronouncing words(24%),voice different from before surgery(20%),speech difficult to understand(20%),nasal speech(18%) and difficulty in talking on phone(4%).conclusion: the results suggest that obturator prosthesis serves the functions of speech and esthetics very well but it is not very efficient in terms of mastication and swallowing. © 2014 pakistan journal of medical and health sciences. all rights reserved.