EPA Consensus Project Paper: Do Implant Retained Prostheses Improve the Quality of Life of Patients with Extraoral Maxillofacial Defects - A Systematic Review.

Abstract

There is limited evidence available regarding patient satisfaction and quality of life assessment in patients with extraoral maxillofacial prostheses. This systematic review aims to understand the impact of extraoral implant retained prosthesis in improving the quality of life in patients with extraoral maxillofacial defects/abnormalities. A comprehensive search was performed of nine electronic databases up to August 2022, which yielded three articles that satisfied the inclusion criteria. The study characteristics and findings were extracted, and the included studies were assessed for quality. Three cohort studies were selected. Despite the lack of uniformity in the quality of life instruments, there was a general trend in improvement in the quality of life for patients with implant retained extraoral prostheses. The studies were also deemed to be of high quality on assessment. Given the limitations of this systematic review, there exists limited evidence indicating that implant prostheses may enhance the quality of life for individuals with extraoral maxillofacial defects or abnormalities.