1MDS (Prosthodontics), senior resident, CDER, AIIMS, New Delhi
2MDS (Prosthodontics), Professor, CDER, AIIMS, New Delhi
3MDS (Prosthodontics), Senior Research Associate, CDER, AIIMS, New Delhi
*Address for Correspondence: Dr. Gunjan Pruthi, MDS (Prosthodontics), Senior Research Associate, Roon No 210, 2nd Floor, CDER, AIIMS New Delhi E-mail: gunjan_prostho@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 6 October, 2015.
Malnutrition amongst cancer patients is a frequent finding. Patients face difficulty in mastication and deglutition due to defects in maxilla during post-surgical period.
Obturators help in restoring the function of maxillectomy patients. Therefore, it is important to assess their nutritional status of these patients after prosthodontic rehabilitation.
Total 38 patients were enrolled in the span of one year, out of which 17 were dropouts. Surgical, intermediate and definitive obturators were fabricated as per requirement. Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) Performa and various blood bio chemical parameters like serum albumin, globulin, total protein, serum sodium, potassium, calcium, alkaline phosphatase and haemoglobin were used to assess the nutritional status. Assessments were made at three different time intervals; just before maxillectomy, 3 months after maxillectomy and 3 months after the delivery of definitive obturator.
Nutritional status of the patients decreased three months after maxillectomy but increased three months after delivery of definitive obturator in comparison to baseline values. On application of one way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni correction, the mean difference of the MNA score of maxillectomy patients at three months after rehabilitation with definitive obturator was found to be statistically significant as compared to that obtained 3 months after maxillectomy and before maxillectomy (P <0.05). Mean values of haemoglobin, albumin and total protein three months after rehabilitation with definitive obturator increased significantly from the values obtained three months after maxillectomy and just before maxillectomy (P <0.05).
Prosthodontic rehabilitation with definitive obturator is one of the prime factors in the improvement of nutritional status and general health of the maxillectomy patients which is evident by the increment in MNA score and serum albumin, haemoglobin and total protein values.
Oral cancer, Definitive obturator, Mini Nutritional Assessment
