4/9/2014

Faculty of Dentistry Mahidol University Occlusion Unit

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Classification of oral and facial defects can be devided into two major categories:

1. congenital defect: a patient usually is born with the defect condition. 2. acquired defect: a patient usually received a defect condition due to cancer, accident, etc. I. Intraoral defects and their rehabilitation: A. CONGENITAL INTRAORAL DEFECTS Patients with cleft lip and/or cleft palates are considered congenital defects. Such patients are born with a gapping hole in the palate. This poses a problem for consumption of food and water, which can get into the nasal cavity. To rectify such anomalies, most patients early in life undergo surgical reconstruction. Surgery however is not a complete answer to such deformities. Some of the persistent problems, include speech impediments (i.e. lack of understandable speech) and incomplete closure of the palate, still remain. Children with such congenital defect usually have a delay in speech development even though their intellectual development is not hindered. Complete rehabilitation for such patients involves series of interventions, which are both complex and protracted. To correct speech impediment we, along with the help of a speech pathologist, employ prosthesis called speech aid prosthesis.

A prosthetic palate to augment the soft palate to improve speech competency.

A speech bulb: similar to a removable denture.

The soft palate relacement with prosthesis, a speech bulb. The speech bulb can simply Imcomplete surgical reconstruction of the cleft palate with no teeth remained function and by adding teeth to the bulb to increase optimal mastication. The speech pathologist trains the patient to speak properly. Another device, called the speech bulb prosthesis is to assist the incorrect position of soft palate following surgical intervention. In some cases, additional surgical interventions are warranted, however more surgery may also mean protracted rehabilitation. Thus, in some instances, speech aid prosthesis can almost substitute the soft palate and correct the problem in a more conventional manner. In addition, other than a correction of speech incompetence, speech bulb prosthesis will also close any remaining hole on the palate. Due to its design, these prostheses have a similar feature to a removable denture; a patient can remove it overnight but also has to take care of his/her oral health to avoid infection. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

[Mahidol University] [Faculty of Dentistry] [Department] [Maxillofacial Prosthetic Sevice]

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