Patient who lost upper jaw to black fungus facing enormous trauma, rehabilitated with a breakthrough surgery!

Specialists at LBR Dental and Implant Center, Hyderabad; performed a complex maxillofacial surgery, restored the upper jaw of a 55 year old patient with advanced dental implants and helped him, lead a normal life. The patient lost the jaw to the deadly Mucormycosis. Dental surgeons led by Dr K. A. Reddy, Chief Implant Surgeon and Key Opinion Leader of BioLine implants, India and Overseas; ably supported by Dr Swapnil Pandey, a Digital Expert and Dr Rangnath Jawar, Oral and maxillofacial surgeon; rehabilitated the patient in 3 days using top-notch BioLine Zygomatic and Tubero Pterygoid implants, through a break through maxillofacial surgery. Mucormycosis or Black Fungus, impacted several patients post COVID care and turned life threatening to many.

The COVID survivor, hailing from karimnagar district, though overcame COVID, was afflicted with Mucormycosis, which turned life threatening for him. Prolonged treatment enabled him to get rid of the Black fungus, but by then he had lost major portion of his upper jaw. There was no end to his misery, as he could neither chew food or swallow, also lost his ability to speak and faced myriad other problems including difficulty in breathing. It impacted his health severely, developed debility and had to endure enormous trauma. In addition, social prejudice led to he getting into a shell and impacting him psychologically too.

He visited several dental hospitals to seek treatment, most didn’t have the expertise to treat, at the few which gave hope to him, the treatment cost was prohibitively expensive and well beyond his means. That’s when a non-profitable organisation, Mucor Care Foundation, operating to rehabilitate patients who lost jaws and teeth due to fungal infection, came forward and provided the much needed succour to him.

Though Zygoma and pterygoid implants are being done with great finesse in specialised centres, this case is considered as a watershed, as it was done on a mucormycosis patient who had no bone left. The best part is that the entire surgery was done under local anaesthesia and fixed teeth were replaced in 3 days says, Dr K. A. Reddy.

The Zygoma and Pterygoid implants, used to treat this patient are unique from the conventional dental implants. These implants are apt for patients who do not have adequate or enough bone lost due to age, infection or any trauma. The Zygoma implants anchor in to the zygomatic bone or cheek bone rather than the upper jaw, which was missing in this patient. These implants are handy when upper jaw bone quality or quantity is inadequate for the placement of regular dental implants. While, Pterygoid implants are placed in the posterior most region of the upper jaw, help avoid sinus-lifting or other grafting procedures to replace teeth immediately within 3 days without any cantilevers. Both Zygoma and Pterygoid implants require surgical excellence of highest order, to position them and have excellent prognosis. There is a dearth of this expertise in the country.

As the patient lost most of his upper jaw and there was no jaw bone left to place regular implants. Zygoma and pterygoid implants were the only alternative for him, therefore the surgeons placed Double zygoma implants in him for extra anchorage, which enabled to firmly fix the teeth within three days. The patient can now lead a normal life, as this is a permanent life time treatment.