Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this research was to examine if covering of the hard palate has an influence on oral sense.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the following experiments were performed on 10 normal subjects with intact dentition, who were nonsmokers. The first experiment was performed to find the influence according to kinds of material constituting an experimental plate. Two kinds of experimental plates covering on the whole hard palate were made: a “Resin plate” and a “Metal plate”(thickness of both plates, 1.5mm). After producing each palatal plate, the test of discriminative ability for the thickness was performed with “Resin plate” and “Metal plate”. Material that was 3mm thick was used as the standard, and it was compared with a series of material that were thicker and thinner by 0.2mm increments. The second experiment was performed to find the influence according to the thickness of an experimental plate. Two kinds of experimental plates were made, “1.5mm plate” and “0.5mm plate”. Testing of discriminative ability for thickness was performed at three conditions: the “1.5mm plate”, the “0.5mm plate”, and no plate.
Results: 1. When wearing “Resin plate” and “Metal plate”, there was no significant difference in discriminative ability for the thickness. 2. When 3 mm-thick material was used as the standard and compared with a series of successive, 0.2mm-thinner materials, there was a significant difference in discriminative ability for the thickness with no plate and with “1.5mm plate” and “0.5mm plate”.
Conclusions: These results suggested that it is effective to choose metal plate that is possible to make thickness thin, in terms of the oral sense. It is possible to make thickness thin.
