Maxillofacial Prosthesis

• Maxillofacial prosthesis are artificial substitutes for the replacement of missing facial parts i.e. defects of palate/ mandible, ear, eye, nose, cheek or combination of the above
• These intra oral or facial defects can arise secondary to trauma, burn, infection or cancer etc.

Intra Oral Defects

• Intra oral defects can be due to missing part of palate, mandible or lower jaw or removal of the same due to some other reasons like cancer etc.
• Patients with intra oral defects possess problem in chewing, speech and swallowing. They also tend to have less mouth opening or deviated lower jaw.
• Prosthesis cover the palatal defect are called obturator, and some prosthesis reduces the deviation of the lower jaw. Their efficacy depends on the time span between surgery and rehabilitation, contraction of surgical area, radiotherapy etc.

Extra Oral Defects

• Extra oral defects means missing eye, ear, nose, a part of cheek or combination.
• These defects gives a facial disfigurement to the patient.
• Defects are restored with the artificial prosthesis to mask the defect.
• Prosthesis are removable type i.e. they need to be removed and are not permanently fitted to the area and also prosthesis need to be repeated every 3-4 years as discoloration happens to them.
• Prosthesis can be of acrylic or silicone made which are retained with help of silicone glue, spectacles, magnets or implants to the patient’s face.
• Besides improving patient’s quality of life, these prosthesis boost their confidence to face the society and help them to live a normal life.