Relationship between Intraoral Air Pressure and Sound Pressure during Pronunciation in Maxillectomy Patients with and without Obturator
2020 Volume 43 Issue 2 Pages 65-72
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2020 Volume 43 Issue 2 Pages 65-72
Nasal air leakage during pronunciation and eating in maxillectomy patients reduces their quality of life. However, an objective evaluation of the sealing effect of wearing an obturator prosthesis has yet to be established. We aimed to verify the sealing effect of obturators by comparing intraoral air pressure （IAP） and sound pressure （SP） between with and without obturators as well as with healthy people.
The participants were seven maxillectomy patients with obturators and 15 healthy young volunteers. IAP was measured by miniature digital atmospheric pressure sensors placed on their palates with denture adhesive. SP was measured using a voice-level meter. Each subject was asked to pronounce the plosive sound /pa/ 10 times. The mean maximal IAP in maxillectomy patients with obturators was significantly higher than that without obturators. Wearing obturators significantly increased IAP. No differences in mean maximal SP were observed among the three groups, i.e. with/without obturators and healthy volunteers. Positive, moderate to strong correlations between IAP and SP were found in the healthy participants and maxillectomy patients without obturators, indicating that IAP was affected by SP. From these results, it was suggested that the sealing effect of obturators could be inferred from the relationship between IAP and SP.
