2021 Volume 36 Issue 1 Pages 65-71
Objective：Many factors, such as jaw defects, reconstruction methods, and present tooth condition, are considered to affect the success or failure of prosthetic recovery from deterioration of oral function in postoperative mandibular tumors. However, the factors that influence the stability of dento-mandibular prostheses with defective jaws have not been investigated in detail so far. Therefore, in this study, we investigated factors related to prosthesis stability in elderly patients using dento-mandibular prostheses with defective jaws who had undergone surgery for mandibular tumors.
Subjects：Between 2014 and 2018, at Hokkaido University Hospital, we observed the postoperative course of 10 patients, aged 65 years or older, who had mandibular tumors and wore a dento-mandibular prosthesis with defective jaws.
Methods：Dento-mandibular prosthesis stability was determined using an evaluation method based on the Kapur scale for evaluating dentures. Score 2 was considered to indicate “Good” stability, and Scores 0 and 1 were considered to indicate “Poor” stability. The subjects were divided into two groups：the Good Stability group（seven subjects）and the Poor Stability group（three subjects）, and a comparative examination of factors related to dento-mandibular prosthesis stability was conducted.
Results：No significant differences were found in all factors between the two groups. The effectiveness of each factor related to the quality of dento-mandibular prosthesis stability was calculated, and it was found that the effects of dento-mandibular prosthesis type, denture space, and flap mobility and incompressibility were markedly large. A certain level of effect was also observed for number of abutment teeth, number of current mandibular teeth, age at which the dento-mandibular prosthesis was fitted, and gender.
Conclusion：It was shown that the stability of a dento-mandibular prosthesis fitted after mandibular tumor surgery was greatly affected by dento-mandibular prosthesis type, denture space, and flap mobility and incompressibility. However, since the number of patients in this study was small, the number of cases may need to be increased in future studies.
