Assessment of mouth opening before and after head and neck radiotherapy in patients with intraoral stents

Mailon Cury Carneiro; Gabriela Moura Chicrala; Vitor Mota Freitas; Guilherme Hideki de Lima Toyoshima; Paulo Sérgio da Silva Santos

doi:10.5603/RPOR.a2023.0039

Assessment of mouth opening before and after head and neck radiotherapy in patients with intraoral stents

Rep Pract Oncol Radiother. 2023 Jul 25;28(3):352-360. doi: 10.5603/RPOR.a2023.0039. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mailon Cury Carneiro¹, Gabriela Moura Chicrala¹, Vitor Mota Freitas², Guilherme Hideki de Lima Toyoshima², Paulo Sérgio da Silva Santos¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Stomatology, Pathology, and Radiology; Bauru School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, Bauru, Brazil.
² Bauru School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, Bauru, Brazil.

Abstract

Background: We evaluated the evolution of mouth opening before and after radiotherapy of the head and neck in patients using intraoral stents.

Materials and methods: Twenty-one patients with head and neck cancer who were indicated for radiotherapy participated in this study. Maximum interincisal opening measurements were performed before and after radiotherapy. Paired analyses of the pre- and post-radiotherapy groups were performed using paired samples t-tests and correlation analyses using Spearman's correlation test, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant.

Results: Paired analyses of the pre- and post-radiotherapy groups revealed a statistically significant reduction in post-radiotherapy maximum interincisal opening (p < 0.001). However, only four individuals were diagnosed with trismus after radiotherapy. Regarding the correlation tests, no statistically significant differences were observed between the differences in pre- and post-radiotherapy maximum interincisal opening values and the study variables.

Conclusion: The use of prosthetic devices during head and neck radiotherapy can reduce radiation doses in areas of no interest, thereby preventing the acute and late toxicities associated with cancer therapy.

Keywords: adverse effects; head and neck neoplasms; intensity-modulated; intraoral stents; radiotherapy; trismus.