Submental Flap in the Reconstruction of Palatal Defects

Amongst oral cancers, malignancies of the palate and the upper gingivo-buccal complex are relatively uncommon. Following resection, defects in the palate lead to a nasal speech and nasal regurgitation on swallowing. This is best overcome with a prosthetic obturator which occludes the palatal defect and has dentures for the upper alveolus. It may not be possible to fit a prosthetic obturator in edentulous patients and in patients with trismus. Microvascular free flaps though commonly used for such defects, are time consuming, expensive and require a specialised setup. This study assesses the submental flap for its feasibility to repair palatal defects, the sturdiness of the flap, its functional outcome and the oncological safety in using the flap. This is a retrospective analysis of 46 patients, where palatal defects for oral cancers were reconstructed with the submental flap. Oncological safety was studied in 41 patients with a median follow-up of 34.5 months. 20 patients were studied for their functional outcomes using the parameters, adopted from the University of Washington-Quality of Life questionnaire. Complete flap loss was seen in 4 (8.7%) patients while 2 (4.35%) patients had minor dehiscence. No donor site morbidity was reported. Locoregional Recurrences and distant metastasis were noted in 13 of the 41 patients studied. The mean score was highest for speech at 95.5% while the lowest mean score was for mouth opening at 42.5%. The submental flap is an effective and reliable alternative for the reconstruction of palatal defects.