The matter that requires the most delicate care in the fabrication of an orbital prosthesis is where to locate the eye ball relative to the restored 3-dimensional morphology of the facial defect. We developed a navigation system for the sculpting of a facial prosthesis. The system consists of a personal computer, a projector and a tripod. The facial photograph is input into the computer, and the restored image of the face is generated by using the mirror image technique in the computer. This restored image is then projected onto a facial plaster model. With a minimum of fine tuning, a facial prosthesis can be sculpted with optimal eye position and 3-dimensional morphology of the face. The navigation system is very useful for fabricating fine facial prostheses and reduce the time taken to adapt the wax model to the patient. The navigation system has proved its usefulness.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate major indigenous oral bacteria and latent pathogenic microorganisms in the oral cavity of maxillectomy patients. The subjects were patients with maxillectomy （n = 22）, against healthy adult controls with dentures （n = 14） and without dentures （n = 15）. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects prior to the study. In all the examined sites of the tumor group, Candida spp., Staphylococcus spp., MRSA and Pseudomonas spp. showed statistically higher bacterial numbers than in the control groups. When the buccal wall of maxillary defect of the tumor group was compared with the normal buccal mucosa, there were more Staphylococcus spp. and MRSA in the former than in the latter, showing a statistical difference. Furthermore, in the tumor group, the palate had statistically higher numbers of Candida spp. and MRSA than the sinus. These results showed that the latent pathogenic microorganisms such as Candida spp., Staphylococcus spp., MRSA and Pseudomonas spp. colonized in the oral cavity of the maxillectomy patients, especially at the defective sites. Therefore, it is suggested that proper oral hygiene guidance and regular clinical management are fundamental for patients with a maxillary prosthesis, in order to not only improve QOL but also to avoid the risk of critical infection.

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The authors compared the marginal bone loss （MBL） of 56 osseointegrated implants （implants） placed in residual or grafted bone following mandibular resection in 20 patients: a residual bone group （RBG） consisting of 7 patients and 17 implants; a corticocancellous iliac bone block group （CBBG） consisting of 7 and 21; and a particulated cancellous iliac bone and marrow group （PCBMG） consisting of 7 and 18. （One patient is counted twice.）
Panoramic radiographs were taken at implant placement （t 1）, prosthetic loading （t 2）, and final follow-up （t 3）. The implant lengths （P 0） and the distances from the alveolar crest to the apex of the implant at the mesial and distal sides of the implant neck were measured. MBL represented the means of differences for corrected distances （using the P 0） at the two sides for pre-loading （t 2-t 1） and post-loading （t 3-t 2）. Paired t-tests were used to determine intra-group differences. and ANOVA for inter-groups.
The following results were obtained :
RBG （t 2-t 1）: 0.4 mm （mean） with 2.3 （SD）; RBG （t 3-t 2）: 1.6 mm with 1.4; CBBG （t 2-t 1）: 0.1 mm with 1.7; CBBG （t 3-t 2） :1.4 mm with 1.4; PCBMG （t 2-t 1）:0.6 mm with 2.0; PCBMG （t 3-t 2）: 0.9 mm with 1.9. No significance （p＞0.05） existed between t 2-t 1 and t 3-t 2 （intra-group except CBBG （P=0.02））, nor for t 2-t 1 or t 3-t 2 （inter-group） （p＞0.05）. This study revealed no difference in resorption between residual and grafted bone.

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Glossectomy causes speech disability, chewing disability, bolus-forming disability, swallowing disability and so on, because of limited tongue movement after the operation. This paper presents the management of a glossectomy patient with prosthetic treatment, speech therapy and dysphagia rehabilitation.
The patient who had squamous cell carcinoma in the right side of the tongue underwent partial resection of the tongue without radiation therapy in 2003. A lower partial denture had been used before the operation but it no longer fitted after the operation and a new denture was needed. The patient underwent rehabilitation to improve his oral function including fabrication of a new lower partial denture, speech therapy and dysphagia rehabilitation. During the rehabilitation, treatment outcome was evaluated several times to be used for later treatment.
The treatment outcome was evaluated with patient’s subjective satisfaction and objective functional tests including speech intelligibility tests, palatography and maximum voluntary tongue pressure measurement. Speech intelligibility score was improved to more than 90% and maximum voluntary tongue pressure was higher than the average of healthy people of the same generation. Regardless of the remaining limitation of tongue movement, the more rehabilitation went on, the more the patient desired to improve oral function.

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