Trismus and oral health conditions during diagnosis of malignant oral neoplasms.

INTRODUCTION: Trismus has been considered a late complication of cancer treatment. It can occur prior to treatment, mainly caused by tumor invasion or muscle spasms induced by the presence of the tumor.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we evaluated the incidence of trismus and its effect on oral health in patients with malignant neoplasms of the oral cavity before performing the cancer treatment.

METHODS: This review was carried out via interviews, visual clinical inspection and objective measurement of maximal mouth opening in 35 consecutive patients. Trismus was defined as a maximal mouth opening <35mm.

RESULTS: Trismus was observed in 15 patients, with a total incidence of 42%. A high rate of tooth loss was recorded, and trismus association with tooth loss was statistically verified using the Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests, the t-student test and Mann-Whitney non-parametric test. All tests were performed at p<0.05.

CONCLUSION: Edentulous patients are eight times more likely to have trismus compared to patients that are partially and fully dentate. Trismus was demonstrated to be correlated with tooth loss; however other oral health conditions were not shown to be a modifying factor.