Luanda - Josina Machel Hospital recently successfully performed a highly complex surgery diagnosed with ankylosis on an 18-year-old girl named Celestina Nguevela.
The patient, from the province of Bié, started having problems since she was 6 years old, after an unsuccessful tooth extraction. He had difficulty opening his mouth and had difficulty speaking and eating.
The surgery, carried out by an Angolan doctor in Luanda, lasted around three hours.
According to maxillofacial surgeon Agnelo Lucamba, who performed the surgery, the problem resulted from the extraction of a tooth that led to infectious complications.
“This patient had been in this condition for 10 years, with immense difficulties opening her mouth, speaking and eating, but we managed to restore the girl's joy and communication”, said the doctor, for whom the initial infection had to be well treated, to prevent loss of mobility.
According to the specialist, this surgery becomes complex because it involves a rooted area with several blood vessels, which requires intubation for some time.
He added that there are many patients who need highly complex surgeries.
He made it known that last year more than a thousand complex surgeries were carried out in the maxillofacial area.
According to the doctor, as a follow-up to the treatment, the young woman undergoing surgery will undergo a physiotherapy process, so that there is no reduction in the opening of her mouth.
He guaranteed that the patient is quite lucid, with a significant improvement.
The surgery was attended by 20 specialists, from nursing technicians, anesthesiologists, maxillofacial surgery doctors and stretcher bearers.
He appealed to people suffering from any pathology of the maxillofacial forum to go to the hospital.
He announced that, to reduce the waiting list for highly complex surgeries, a campaign and massive consultations will be carried out in March.
More than two hundred people are on the waiting list for this surgery.
Ankylosis of the temporomandibular joint is a disorder related to fibrous adhesion or bone fusion between the anatomical components of the joint, which promotes restriction of mandibular movements.
In recovery, Celestina Ngueve said she was very happy to be able to speak properly and eat without restrictions again.
She said that it was a difficult process when it all started, back in 2015, in the province of Bié, where she made several exams in several health units, but without success.
EVC/OHA/CF/jmc
