Abstract:

Objective

Radiation-induced trismus and masticatory spasm is common in nasopharyngeal carcinoma （NPC） patients after radiotherapy. In this study， occlusal splint appliance was introduced to treat it.

Methods

From Dec. 2001 to Mar. 2005， 67 NPC patients with trismus were treated with occlusal splint in Center of TMD， Stomatological Hospital， Sun Yat-sen University. Individual tray and segmental impression techniques were used. The patients with mild，moderate and severe trismus were treated respectively by V-shaped splint， fundamental splint plus V-shaped splint and separate splint plus fundamental splint （plus V-shaped splint if possible）.

Results

After 1.5 years of follow-up， in terms of trismus the total effective rate is 94.0%， for mild， moderate and severe the rate is 8.9%，100 %and 86.7% respectively. The average maximum mouth opening increased 1.2 cm. Also， the rate of spasm relieved got to 100%. For mild， the spasm released rate is 63.9% and the rate of spasm relieved obviously is 33.3%， for moderate the two rates are respectively 23.5% and 41.2%， for severe spasm they are 28.6% and 71.4%.

Conclusion

Appliance of occlusal splint in NPC patients after radiotherapy can obviously relieve the symptom of trismus and mastication muscle spasm.

Key words: Nasopharyngeal neoplasm, Radiotherapy, Trismus, Occlusal splint, Masticatory spasm