Abstract
For the cleft palate baby, aged about a year, early application of the obt u r atorhasbeen practiced in our department. It was aimed to prevent abnormal phonation and to normalize their speech development.
Results of fifteen babies thus treated were asfollows;
1) all obturators were well fitted and no adverse effect was encounterd.
2) seven out of 15 patients developed normal or almost normal speech without any special speech training.
3) three different kinds of the obturators were used.
a) Velar-piece made of softelicon.
b) Velar-piece made of Resin for snug fitting. The result of these obturators was good.
c) Velar-piece made of thin board like Resin. This type of obturator was notsatisfac tory. This piece should be put in place, so that a tip of the Velar-piecegentlytouches the Passavant prominence of the posterior pharyngeal wall.
4) the application could be delayed as late as 2 years with good results.
5) A problem of whether the patient shoul keep wearing the obturator or betreatedsurgically upon satisfactory development of speech requires further investigation.
