Is buccal fat pad a better option than nasolabial flap for reconstruction of intraoral defects after surgical release of fibrous bands in patients with oral submucous fibrosis? A pilot study: a protocol for the management of oral submucous fibrosis.

[oral submucous fibrosis]

The aim this study was to compare the buccal fat pad (BFP ) and nasolabial flap for reconstruction Â of intraoral defects after release of fibrous bands in patients with oral submucous fibrosis (OSF ).This is a comparative study . The study sample was derived from the population of patients who presented , with restricted mouth opening of less than 20 Â mm , to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery , Swargiya Dada Saheb Kalmegh Dental College and Hospital Hingna Nagpur . The patients were divided into two groups . In Group I (n Â =Â 10 ) reconstruction was performed with a nasolabial flap and in Group II (n Â =Â 10 ) with BFP . Both groups were analysed separately for mouth opening (interincisal distance in millimetres ) preoperatively and 20 months postoperatively , time taken for epithelialization of BFP and nasolabial flaps . Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS statistical software for Windows , version 8 .0 (SPSS , Inc , Chicago , IL ) using the _2 test and Student 's t test .In all 20 patients the interincisal mouth opening was (mean ) 11 Â mm (3 -19 Â mm ) preoperatively which improved to a mean of 42 Â mm (23 -52 Â mm ). In Group I there were more complications as compared to Group II such as partial flap necrosis particularly at the tips , temporary widening of oral commissure and subluxation of TMJ . The unsightly extraoral scar and intraoral growth of hairs were not seen in Group II .BFP is the better choice for reconstruction in comparison to nasolabial flap .