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.