Evaluation of Dento-maxillary Prosthesis on Speech Intelligibility in Maxillary Resected Patients

— Soft Palate Defect Cases —

Abstract

Patients with a defect of the hard palate caused by tumor resection suffer a remarkable decline in speech function due to abnormality of the resonance cavity and articulation. However, the speech function may be improved by wearing a prosthesis. The purpose of this study was to clarify how much a soft palate defect affects speech function. Thirteen patients with a soft palate defect participated in this study. Conversation intelligibility, blowing test and nasometry were performed. In patients with soft palate defects, speech intelligibility improved with wearing a prosthesis. However, some cases showed little difference between with and without a prosthesis even though the extent of deficiency was similar to that of cases whose speech improved. Individual differences were seen in the test results. The results of this study indicate that it is important to evaluate patients with extensive deficits by considering individuals’ residual function such as velopharyngeal function.