Challenges during implant-assisted prosthetic rehabilitation in fibula reconstructed jaws and its management: a scoping review protocol

Introduction: Oral cancer is the sixth most prevalent cancer type worldwide. Patients are placed in a crippling predicament due to the functional and psychosocial difficulties brought on by the illness and its treatments. Both surgeons and maxillofacial prosthodontists may encounter challenges with reconstruction and therapy following cancer treatment. Over 20 years, the fibula has remained the mainstay of reconstructions for head and neck cancer. Maxillary and mandibular jaws with fibula reconstructions can use fixed or removable prosthetic rehabilitation solutions. The proposed scoping review aims to ascertain the volume and nature of evidence concerning the difficulties and corrective measures in the prosthetic rehabilitation of fibula-reconstructed head and neck cancer cases. The findings will aid in improving the prosthetic treatment care for the affected population. Materials and Methods: The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review protocol will be followed in developing and reporting the scoping review methodology. Methods to identify the relevant literature will involve the systematic search of databases like PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, and gray literature sources for pertinent articles on the subject. Only papers published in English literature will be considered for the review, and the data collection period is limited to the past 20 years. The screening process will utilize defined inclusion/exclusion criteria for Title/Abstract and Full-text screening by two independent reviewers in covidence, and a third reviewer will resolve any conflicts. The data extracted will include specific details about the participants, concept, population, study methods, challenges encountered during prosthetic rehabilitation, and their management. Inductive thematic analysis and descriptive statistics will be applied where appropriate. The narrative synthesis of the evidence will be accomplished through data extraction in a tabular format, and the results will be presented as a narrative summary.