Oral opening training increases oral opening in patients with oral submucous fibrosis.

OBJECTIVES

The mouth restriction of patients with oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) seriously affects their eating food and the quality of life. There are few reports about improving the oral opening degree in patients with OSF. This study aims to explore the effect of oral opening training on the improvement of mouth opening limitation in patients with OSF treated with local injection.

METHODS

A total of 220 outpatients with limited mouth opening of OSF were collected from the Center of Stomatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, and randomly divided into a control group and an experiment group (n=110). The control group were treated with local injection of Salvia miltiorrhiza and triamcinolone acetonide, once a week, and 8 times a course. The experimental group were treated with local injection combined with mouth opening training for 2 years. The degree of mouth opening was compared between the 2 groups at the end of local injection treatment, 1 year and 2 years after the treatment. The curative effect was evaluated according to the size of the opening, the lamellar structure of the mucosa, and the condition of the cords.

RESULTS

A total of 197 patients completed the whole course of treatment, with 107 in the experimental group and 90 in the control group. At the end of treatment, 1 year and 2 years after the treatment, the degree of mouth opening in the experimental group was (36.14±2.62), (39.67±2.67), and (39.80±2.57) mm, respectively, which was significantly higher than that in the control group (24.71±1.97), (22.82±2.13), and (22.02±2.09) mm, respectively. The difference was significant (P<0.05). The increase of mouth opening in the experimental group was significantly better than that in the control group. Two years after local injection treatment, the effective rate of the experimental group was 97.1%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (47.8%, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Mouth opening training can significantly increase the degree of mouth opening in patients with OSF treated with local injection.