[Treatment of facial paralysis with temporalis lengthening myoplasty and dysarthria improvement]. / Myoplastie d'allongement du temporal et amélioration de la dysarthrie des patients paralysés faciaux.

INTRODUCTION: The dysfunctions engendered by the peripheral facial paralysis (PFP) induce modifications of the verbal and para-verbal functions. The purpose of our study was to observe if the temporalis lengthening myoplasty (TLM) allowed to decrease dysarthria observed on the operated patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We followed-up seven patients affected by a peripheral facial paralysis with various etiologies. Due to specifics needs of this study, we created an evaluation grid of the articulation, which allowed us to measure evolutions after the operation by a tri-phase evaluation: before surgery, at 3 and 6months after it. RESULTS: Results show a definite improvement of dysarthria in the whole test group. CONCLUSION: TLM operation, in addition to be very efficient for the recovering of the paralyzed side, can also treat dysarthria on these patients.