口腔がん術後の構音障害に対する舌接触補助床を用いたリハビリテーションの実際

抄録

The palatal augmentation prosthesis （PAP） is an intraoral prosthesis designed to improve tongue-palate contact during speech and swallowing in patients with tongue resection or impaired tongue mobility. In patients with postoperative oral cancer, a PAP is often applied primarily to improve swallowing function since safe and adequate nutrition intake may have a direct impact on postoperative prognosis. Recently, with advances in treatment techniques and more patients returning to work following treatment, there is an increasing need for improving speech function for efficient communication. During rehabilitation for speech disorders in this group of patients, co-operation between dentists and speech-language-hearing therapists is crucial.
This article summarizes the general knowledge of speech disorders in oral cancer patients, and introduces speech rehabilitation techniques when applying PAP in these patients.