Masticatory function and related factors after oral oncological treatment: A 5‐year prospective study

Abstract

Background Chewing ability is often compromised in patients with oral cancer. The aim of this study was to identify which factors affect masticatory performance in these patients. Methods Patients with primary oral cancer were assessed for up to 5 years after primary treatment. Healthy controls were assessed once. A mixed‐model analysis was performed, with masticatory performance as outcome measure. Results A total of 123 patients were included in the study. Factors positively associated with masticatory performance were number of occlusal units (OU), having functional dentures, and maximum mouth opening (MMO). The impact of tumor location and maximum bite force (MBF) differed per assessment moment. Masticatory performance declined for up to 1 year but recovered at 5 years after treatment. Conclusion Masticatory performance in patients treated for oral cancer is affected by MBF, MMO, number of OU, and dental status. These should be the focus of posttreatment therapy.

Reproducibility and construct validity of the utrecht mixing ability Test to obtain masticatory performance outcome in patients with condylar mandibular fractures

“…This is consistent with findings in another study with patients treated for oral cancer, where the authors concluded that MMO significantly contributed to the MAI. 18 The authors expected the retest to generate a better outcome than the first test for two reasons. The first reason was that when a patient had just finished treatment of the condylar fracture, and the first thing the patient was allowed to chew on was the MAT tablet, the patient's chewing performance might be limited by fear (of f.i.…”

“…A comprehensive description of the mixing ability test (MAT) as developed by the University Medical Center Utrecht was published previously . The MAT quantifies how well a patient is able to mix two layers of red and blue colour of a wax tablet by chewing a certain number of strokes, which are digitally analysed afterwards.…”

“…A comprehensive description of the mixing ability test (MAT) as developed by the University Medical Center Utrecht was published previously. 2,17,18 The MAT quantifies how well a patient is able to mix two layers of red and blue colour of a wax tablet by chewing a certain number of strokes, which are digitally analysed afterwards. The outcome variable is called the mixing ability index (MAI) and ranges between 5 and 30, where a score of 5 means a fully mixed tablet and 30 an unused wax tablet.…”

The association between a mixing ability test and patient reported chewing ability in patients treated for oral malignancies

“…Data was collected in a prospective cohort study, 27 subjects were assessed prior to primary oral oncology treatment (t 0 ), 4-6 weeks after primary treatment and/or radiotherapy (respectively t 1a and t 1b ), 6 months (t 2 ), 12 months (t 3 ) and 5 years (t 5 ) after primary treatment. were four possible answers on an ordinal scale (respectively "Never," "Sometimes," "Often" and "Always").…”

“…The longitudinal results of the MAI in this cohort have been previously studied. 27 This study focuses only on the relationship between the MAI and self-reported chewing ability. Thus, the primary aim of this study was to relate the index scores of the MAT to outcomes of chewing related items from a head and neck oncology questionnaire.…”