2006 Volume 31 Issue 1 Pages 1-6
Palatal lift prosthesis (PLP) is widely used for the treatment of velopharyngeal incompetence in cleft palate patients. In this study, we investigated the effects of PLP on velopharyngeal closure function (VPF) in 13 cleft palate patients with poor movement of the soft palate, by evaluating the velopharyngeal function after speech therapy with PLP. Speech therapy was started at the age of one year and 9 months on average. In slightly poor and poor VPF patients, PLP was set at the mean age of 6 years and 8 months, and 5 years and 11 months, and used for 13 months and 21 months on average, respectively. The velopharyngeal function improved in 11 of the 13 patients (85%). Furthermore,5 of the 13 patients (38%) obtained good VPF without PLP after speech therapy with PLP. Four of the five patients had shown slightly poor VPF before the speech therapy improved the velopharyngeal function to adequate velopharyngeal function without PLP. Thus, speech therapy with PLP is useful for improving the velopharyngeal function in a cleft palate patient with poor movement of the soft palate.
