Abstract
Purpose：To demonstrate the increase of tongue pressure with palatal augmentation prostheses（PAP）.
Method：Maximum tongue pressure or swallowing tongue pressure before and after insertion of PAP were investigated in 17 medical facilities. Maximum tongue pressure was evaluated in 51 swallowing disorder patients before and after insertion of PAP and after using PAP. Among these patients, 23 were classified into the structural disorder group including oral cavity cancer and cleft patients, and 28 into the functional disorder group including stroke and neurological disease patients. Swallowing tongue pressure was measured in another 29 dysphagia patients before and after insertion of PAP.
Results：The maximum tongue pressure was increased with PAP in the structural disorder group（before：9.6±8.8 kPa, after：16.4±10.3 kPa, using PAP：20.7±11.2 kPa)(p＜0.01）. The immediate change of the maximum tongue pressure before and after insertion of PAP was strongly positively correlated with the longitudinal change before and after using PAP（r＝0.81, p＜0.01）. The same result was seen in the functional disorder group（before：12.1±7.0 kPa, after：15.5±8.0 kPa, using PAP：18.7±7.7 kPa)(p＜0.01）. The immediate change was moderately positively correlated with the longitudinal change（r＝0.51, p＜0.01）. Furthermore, the swallowing tongue pressure was increased with PAP（before：3.0±3.5 kPa, after：11.8±9.2 kPa)(p＜0.01）.
Conclusion：Both the maximum tongue pressure and the swallowing tongue pressure were increased by inserting PAP. Also, maximum tongue pressure continuously increased while using PAP.
