title: Management of restricted mouth opening caused by radiation: A clinical report.
abstract: Trismus, a commonly observed sequela in patients who have undergone radiation therapy to treat malignancies of the head and neck, causes a loss of function that reduces patients' overall quality of life. Radiation can cause intense fibrosis in the masticatory muscles, and this fibrosis may lead to trismus. This clinical report describes the management of a patient with radiation-induced trismus who was treated with a custom-made mouth-opening device. The device had maxillary and mandibular sections, was made of a thermoactive acrylic resin material, and was connected with 2 vertical screws in the right and left canine regions. The screws were adjusted daily to increase the oral opening, such that each turn of the screws increased the opening by 0.25 mm. With the help of this device, at the end of a 4-month follow-up period, the patient's maximal interdental distance had increased from 7.16 mm to 19.50 mm. The intraoral opening device described in this study is useful for achieving a vertical opening sufficient to perform dental treatment.
authors.affiliation: Research Assistant, Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. Electronic address: edaozdere@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Eda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ozdere
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gulsum Sayin
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Ozel
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Filiz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aykent
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008410:Masticatory Muscles; D009055:Mouth; D009989:Orthotic Devices; D011788:Quality of Life; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D014313:Trismus / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*