• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 2013

Cleft lip and palate is congenital deformity in oral and maxillofacial area. Normal soft palate has velopharyngeal closure action by connecting oral cavity and nasal cavity at rest and moving upward at swallowing and specific pronunciation. Cleft palate patients with velopharyngeal insufficiency have difficulty in mastication, swallowing and pronunciation because velopharyngeal closure is incomplete. At this time, a prosthetic device used to cover palate defects is called a palatal obturator. A palatal obturator separates oral cavity and nasal cavity and recovers pronunciation, mastication, swallowing and esthetic function. The purpose of this case study is to report the results because it reaches a satisfactory result in functional and esthetic aspects through functional impression procedures using modeling compound and tissue conditioner for restoration of a cleft palate patient with velopharyngeal insufficiency.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.351-357
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• 2016

Rehabilitation of maxillectomy patients is challenging. The maxillary defects need to functional restoration because of mastication, speech, swallowing problems. The goal of making obturator is to restore maxillary defects and give patients comfortable, esthetic prosthesis. This case report presents acquired masticatory and esthetic results and improved retention resulting from the pharyngeal obturator prosthesis using implant.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.167-171
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• 2016

Patients undergone partial maxillectomy experience post-operative masticatory, phonetic, and swallowing difficulties. They also encounter social and psychological challenges due to changes in their facial appearances. Thus, functional and esthetic recovery through maxillofacial prosthesis becomes significant for these patients. The objective of an appropriate obturator is to restore palate and improve phonetic and swallowing ability by separating the oral cavity, nasal cavity, maxillary sinus, and nasopharynx. In this case report, an obturator was fabricated for a patient who had partial resection from the maxillary posterior region to the pharynx due to squamous cell carcinoma. The purpose of this case study is to describe the results because the patient was successfully improved both functionally and esthetically.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.213-219
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• 2012

Oral appliances are a primary treatment option for snoring and mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and are considered as an alternative for patients with severe OSA who have failed continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or upper airway surgery. But it is true that OAs have varying degrees of effectiveness depending on different oral appliances and the efficacy of OAs are established in some but not all patients. New oral appliance, which is one of Adjustable Anterior Positioners, was developed by Dept of Oral Medicine, Dental School, Dankook University. This is a report for treating severe OSA patient with a failure of previous uvulopalatopharyngoplasty using a new Adjustable Anterior Positioner, followed by significant success of controlling OSA.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.247-256
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes of the pharyngeal space when the following appliances were inserted: the mandibular advancement appliance (MAA), tongue retaining appliance (TRA), and mandibular advancement-tongue retaining appliance (MATRA). Nine male dental students exhibiting Class I occlusion, normal body mass index (BMI), and no signs and symptoms of snoring were selected for this study. The three kinds of snoring appliances (MAA, TRA and MATRA) were fabricated for each subject. The mandibular advancement of the MAA and MATRA was set at a distance of 5 mm, and the TRA and MATRA were made to hold the tongue in front of the maxillary incisors by 10 to 20 mm. Lateral cephalometric radiographs of the following four states - with no appliance, MAA, TRA, and MATRA - were taken to examine any anatomical changes resulting from the application of the appliances. All four radiographs were traced and analyzed for twenty selected variables related to the pharyngeal space, cranio-cervical posture, and position of the soft palate and hyoid bone. According to the results of this study, there were significant increases in both the upper and lower oropharyngeal spaces when the mandible and tongue were protruded simultaneously, although there was a significant increase only in upper oropharyngeal space when the mandible or tongue was advanced separately. In conclusion, it is suggested that the MATRA may result in more positive effect on the control of snoring and OSA compared to a single use of the MAA or TRA, especially for the patients whose upper airway obstruction occurs in the lower oropharynx.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2019

A patient who went through maxillectomy can have soft palate defects including oronasal fistulas and suffer from dysphagia and dysarthria due to velopharyngeal insufficiency. This defect causes the food to enter nasal cavity and creates hypernasal sound which debilitates a quality of life. An obturator can rehabilitate the substantial oral tissue defects. The maxillary obturator separates the nasopharynx from the oropharynx during speech and deglutition by closing of the defect. For edentulous obturator patient, it is difficult to obtain proper retention due to reduced peripheral sealing. Therefore, the contours of the defects must be used to maximize the retention, stability, and support. Hollow type obturator can improve physiologic function by reducing weight than the traditional obturator. This case report describes a patient with hemi-maxillectomy who recovers mastication, speech, deglutition, and appearance with a maxillary obturator using physiological border molding of the velopharyngeal area and double-processing method.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.30 no.3 s.80
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• pp.287-296
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• 2000

It is well known that oral appliance could improve respiratory difficulty in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). To evaluate the effect of oral appliance, polysomnography and cephalometry were performed in OSA patients before and after oral appliance was used. Twenty four OSA patients were included in this study. Respiratory difficulty index (RDI) was obtained from polysomnography and the movement of soft palate, tongue, posterior pharygeal wall, hyoid bone, and mandible and the variables of the facial pattern were measured on the cephalogram. The changes of cephalometric parameters were compared to the RDI changes and the correlation was tested. After oral appliance was used, RDI decreased from 46.8 to 13.3. There was significant relationship between RDI improvement and the anterior movement of the mandible and superior movement of the hyoid bone. In 8 patients whose RDI was most improved, RDI improvement rate was correlated with the anterior movement of the tongue and anterior-posterior (AP) diameter of the airway at the levels between the lower portion of the soft palate and epiglottis. These results could conclude that anterior movement of the tongue and superior movement of the hyoid bone would be favorable cephalometric parameters for the improvement of OSA.