Multidisciplinary approach to the rehabilitation of children with macroglossia

Background. One of the etiological factors of dentognathic deformations is changes in the structure, tone, position, shape and size of the tongue. In clinical practice, macroglossia is a rare pathology. Intervention techniques for macroglossia require optimization and justification of terms and sequence. Purpose – to conduct an analysis of problematic tasks and justify a multidisciplinary approach to the rehabilitation of patients with macroglossia. Materials and Methods. To achieve this goal, a retrospective analysis of 613,421 medical records of pediatric patients was conducted. Among them, a group with a history of tongue enlargement was identified. Results. The estimated prevalence of macroglossia was 2.1 cases per 100,000 case histories (95% CI: 1.1 – 3.6 per 100,000). One patient had confirmed Beckwith– Wiedemann syndrome and was diagnosed with syndromic macroglossia. Etiotropic therapy was prescribed from the first days of life. The patient underwent partial tongue resection and staged surgical reconstruction of the omphalocele. Orthodontic treatment and preventive measures included the use of functional and fixing constructions. Conclusions. Rehabilitation of children with macroglossia involves the solution by specialists of a multidisciplinary team of problematic tasks of anamnestic-general medical, surgical, psychological and dental nature depending on the severity of symptoms and risks of complications. From the point of view of the orthodontist, the formation of dentognathic deformations at the level of the size of the tongue is influenced by its function. The problems in this case are the complexity and long duration of therapy in the absence of the prescribed volume of medical care and cause-and-effect relationships between symptoms. A considerable role is given to the formation of parentsʼ beliefs about the need to observe a complex of therapeutic and preventive measures, to set up joint efforts to achieve a positive treatment result, to create an atmosphere of emotional comfort between specialists, the child according to age, and the parents directly.