Efficiency of different treatment modalities on radiation induced trismus for maxillofacial cases: a parallel randomized clinical trial.

Background: For more than 80% of patients with head and neck cancer, radiation therapy (RT) is a crucial component of their treatment plane which causes impairment for the masticatory apparatus functions leading to trismus. The study objective was to compare the efficacy of different treatment modalities for patients with RT-induced trismus on maximum mouth opening (MMO), visual analogue scale (VAS) (primary outcomes) patient satisfaction (secondary outcome).

Methods: Thirty-six patients with trismus after radiation therapy were classified equally and randomly into three groups (n = 12 per group): Group A was given threaded tapered screw appliance therapy (TTSA), Group B was given low-level laser therapy (LLLT), and Group C was given both threaded tapered screw appliance and low-level laser therapy (LLLT + TTSA).