title: The functional intraoral Glasgow scale (FIGS) in retromolar trigone cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Surgical incisions in the retromolar trigone (RMT) cause injury to underlying structures. The functional intraoral Glasgow scale (FIGS) is used to determine the ability of patients to speak, chew and swallow. FIGS could be used to investigate whether there is a correlation between clinical tumour stage and the function of the oral cavity following surgery in the RMT.
  
  
  METHODS
  FIGS scores for 58 patients speech, chewing and swallowing collected pre-operatively, then at 3 and 20 weeks post-operatively, were used to calculate a total 'Global Oral Disability' value and compared with the clinical tumour size using the TMN staging method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with RMT cancer who undergo surgical resection can expect a degree of functional impairment which is proportional to the clinical tumour size.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FIGS is a simple and reproducible way of assessing a patient's functional impairment following surgery in the RMT, especially when using the new global oral disability value.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Anatomy, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow G12 8QQ,Scotland, UK. stephen_goldie@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Goldie
authors.forename: Mary S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Soutar
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shaw-Dunn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003679:Deglutition / Q000502:physiology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome