Oro-Facial+Examination


 * Oro-facial Examination **

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The oro-facial exam is part of a clinical assessment done to assess the cranial nerve’s involved in swallowing and the oral cavity (Cichero & Murdoch, 2006).

In the hospital settings the physical examinations performed by the physician or neurosurgeon will be included in the patient's file. A cranial nerve assessment may have been carried out which you can reference to your own results.

You are looking for range, rate, accuracy, and speed of voluntary movement of the face, lips, tongue, palate, and larynx (Groher & Crary, 2010).

The functioning of the tongue will likely be affected by surgery (Murray, 1999).

The CN’s **V**, **VII**, **IX**, and **X** are likely to be affected.

- The anterior two thirds of the tongue are supplied by the mandibular branch of V.

- The sulcus terminalis and post sulcal region is innervated by CN IX.

- The anterior 2/3 of the tongue is supplied by CN VII as well as the salivary glands.

- The base of the tongue superior to the epiglottis is innervated by CN X.

- The motor innervations of the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles is CN XII except for palatoglossus which is innervated by IX and X.

- The presence of the gag reflex may indicates sensation and functioning of CN’s IX and X however, the reflex may or may not be triggered if there is pooled material in the pharynx and not all people have a gag reflex.

Below is a link to an example of a oro-facial examination and a clinical/mealtime observation which will be described on the following page. This has been created using Murray (1999), Cichero & Murdoch (2006), and Groher & Crary (2010).



Clinical or Mealtime Observation