Patient Centric Obturator Fabrication: Addressing the Challenges of Limited Oral Access

Abstract

Management of maxillo-mandibular defects in prosthodontics due to any of the causes, such as trauma, congenital defects, neoplasms, or malformations, is not uncommon. The management is crucial for restoring the patient’s oronasal closure and enhancing chewing ability, speech, appearance, and comfort. It is indeed a challenging task in itself, but what makes it more difficult sometimes are the problems such as size of the defect and limited mouth opening. This clinical case report discusses the fabrication of an obturator for a patient with squamous cell carcinoma of buccal mucosa who had undergone partial maxillectomy and partial mandibulectomy too. After the radiotherapy, sessions were over; the patient was referred for a palatal obturator. However, due to scarring and fibrosis of the muscle fibers, the mouth opening was extremely limited, and it was a real challenge to fabricate prosthesis for the patient.

Keywords

• conventional palatal obturator
• hemi-maxillectomy
• limited mouth opening