Abstract
Background Oral cancer patients may suffer from restricted mouth opening (trismus) due to the oncological intervention. Methods Maximal mouth opening (MMO) was measured in 145 patients shortly before and after treatment, after 6 and 12 months and was analyzed with linear mixed-effects models. Results MMO decreased shortly after treatment in all patients. Patients who received only surgery showed a partial recovery 6 and 12 months after treatment whereas patients who received primary or postoperative radiotherapy did not. Tumor location, tumor stage and alcohol usage also had an independent effect on MMO. Having trismus 1 year after treatment was most strongly associated with pretreatment MMO, postoperative radiotherapy, mandibular, or maxillary tumor involvement and primary radiotherapy. Conclusions Receiving radiotherapy (primary or postoperative) and maxillary or mandibular tumor involvement are the most considerable risk factors for a decrease of MMO and subsequently for developing trismus after oral cancer treatment.
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