Abstract
Oronasal fistulas after palatoplasty are commonly closed at the secondary bone grafting in patients with alveolar cleft. Sometimes oronasal fistulas might cause problems in speech and/or intake of food. Oronasal fistulas therefore should be closed in those cases by using a fistula closure appliance until the secondary bone grafting. The conventional palatal appliance consists of an acrylic resin plate and wire clasp. However, such a plate appliance has the discomfort of leakage of food and insufficient stability. Further, patients suffer mental anguish about wearing the plate appliance. Therefore we developed a new type of obturator by using a self-curing viscoelastic resin for patients with problematic oronasal fistula. This obturator is easily fabricated and suitable for the form of the oronasal fistula. Here we report the method of fabricating the new type of obturator and its clinical application.
