The Evaluation of Prosthetic Rehabilitation in Glossectomy Patients

Objectives: Patients who have resected oral floor or tongue due to oral tumor often suffer from postoperative dysfunction. The dysfunction is caused by the lack of the tongue volume or deterioration of the mobility. Prosthesis has been suggested as a means of compensation for these deficiencies. For the prosthetic treatment, it is necessary to evaluate the mobility of the tongue for postoperative rehabilitation in glossectomy patients. Measurement of lingual pressure against palate is one of the useful methods to evaluate the tongue mobility. In the present study, we measured the lingual pressure in glossectomy patients, and compared with those of normal volunteers. The purpose of this study was to establish the measurement of lingual pressure against palate for evaluating the function of glossectomy patients. Methods: 15 normal subjects and 5 glossectomy patients were participated in this experiment. Lingual pressures against palate were measured during monosyllable utterances with 2mm thick palatal acrylic plate. Pressure transducers utilized strain gauges were mounted on anterior and posterior areas of each side on the palatal plate. The palatolingual consonants were selected for test sounds, which produced palatal pressures by the tongue. Results: In normal subjects, the maximum pressures were biggest in [ti] followed by [tSi], and [si] among the test sounds. The durations of monosyllables, were longest in [si] followed by [tSi], and [ti]. In contrast, there were no differences in the glossectomy patients. Then, the anterior/posterior ratios (AP ratio) of the maximum pressure were calculated. The ratio of [si], [di] is significantly bigger than those of [tSi], [zi], respectively, however the difference were not shown in the glossectomy patients. Conclusions: These results suggest that measurements of lingual pressure could discriminate between normal subjects and glossectomy patients.