Prótesis combinada con retención magnética: presentación de un caso clínico

The complex defects in the midface involving orbit, nose, cheek, lips, and jaw, as well as intraoral defects cause a condition that affects the patient's vision, swallowing, breathing, phonation, chewing, and social behaviour. These defects are not usually surgically reconstructed, but rather rehabilitated by using facial and intraoral prostheses. This type of rehabilitation requires a higher level of practical skill and a longer time manufacturing the 3 combined prostheses than that of a conventional or individual prosthesis.

One of the most important challenges when making the prosthetic rehabilitation in these patients is for it to be accepted by them, as many of them tend to have very high aesthetic expectations. Another big problem is that during the chewing process, facial prostheses have a constant motion that could affect stability if adhesives are the only means of retention. To prevent this, a careful design of both prostheses is required, using various forms of retention for the rehabilitation. To achieve success, the rehabilitation must meet the principles of support, retention and stability required to make it functional, and to allow the reintegration of the patient into the social, familiar and work environment.

This case is presented of a 67 year-old male patient, who underwent a left maxillectomy procedure including an orbital exenteration and a histological diagnosis of invasive squamous cell carcinoma. A surgical maxillary obturator was constructed, with subsequent monitoring and intraoral rehabilitation to enable the patient to use a transitional obturator and a facial prosthesis with physical and chemical retention. Eyeglasses were used with the only objective of camouflaging the facial prosthesis.