• Proceedings of the KSLP Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.183-183
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• 1999

배경 : 주로 palatal defect 환자들의 상악(maxilla)의 결손으로 인한 형태와 기능을 복구시키기 위한 보철적 재활(prosthetic rehabilitation)방법으로 쓰이는 obturator는 비음의 초래를 막고 vocal tract의 모양에 영향을 줄 수 있으나, palatal cancer 환자를 대상으로 말산출(speech production)에 관한 obturator 장착 효과에 대한보고는 거의 없다. 또한 모음은 자음에 비해 더 nasality에 영향을 주며 모음 삼각도의 면적크기가 말 명료도의 객관적인 측정치로 사용될 수 있다. 연구목적 : Palatal cancer 환자의 obturator 장착 전후 모음 산출 측정치를 통해 모음 삼각도의 크기를 비교함으로써, obturator 장착이 말 명료도 개선에 어느 정도의 효과를 주는지 보고자 하였다. (중략)

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.140-148
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• 1999

The use of obturator is the prosthetic rehabilitation approach for restoration of the defected maxillary shape and function for the patients with palatal defect. The obturator can change the shape of vocal tract and nasality, but few reports on the effects of the change were presented. So, the authors performed the experimental study to compare the difference between the sizes of vowel triangles produced by maxillectomized patients before and after obturator-wearing and to consider how much improvement in speech intelligibility can be expected by obturator wearing. The 8 patients who were totally maxillectomized due to palatal cancer were participated as subjects. They produced 5 vowels(/a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/) before and after obturator-wearing. The formants of the vowels were analyzed by the spectrogram of CSL, and their speech intelligibility were judged by normal 8 listeners. As results, the frequency of the first and the second formant showed no significant difference between the articulation before and after wearing, but the comparison of the sizes of vowel triangles, related with the speech intelligibility, showed significant difference. The vowel triangle of the articulation after wearing was larger than that of the articulation before wearing. /i/ showed the lowest speech intelligibility score among the vowel articulation before wearing. After wearing obturators, their scores increased on the whole, especially, in /a/, but the intelligibility of /u/ decreased after wearing.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.337-342
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• 2011

Congenital or traumatic loss on the oral and maxillary area or the loss of jaws due to the surgical excision of a tumor causes functional problems, such as masticatory and swallowing disorders, phonetic problems and psychological disorders in patients. In most cases, a prosthetic restoration is needed to resolve these problems and restore the damaged tissue and function. When loss occurs on the maxilla, foods and liquids leak into the nasal cavity, and a nasal sound can be heard due to air leakage into the removed area. In these cases, the palatal obturator can be used to improve the esthetic and functional aspects because it restores the removed area of the maxilla and closes the opened route between the oral cavity and maxillary sinus or nasal cavity. In this case report, a palatal obturator was applied to patients who had a hemimaxillectomy due to the occurrence of squamous cell carcinoma on the right maxillary area. Therefore, fundamental functions, such as phonetic and swallowing functions were restored, and the esthetic aspects of the facial profile were improved.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.411-416
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• 2016

Patients who underwent resection of maxilla due to benign or malignant tumor, or accident will have defect in palatal area. They get retention, support and stability from remaining tissues which are hardly optimal. The advantage of swing-lock attachment design is having multiple contacts on labial and lingual side of the abutment teeth by retentive strut and palatal bracing component. Because the force is distributed equally to abutment teeth, abutment teeth of poor prognosis can be benefited from it. It is also more advantageous to cover soft tissue defects which are hard to reach with conventional prosthesis. A 56-year-old female patient who had undergone a maxillectomy due to malignant melanoma complaining of loose and unstable surgical obturator. Surveyed crowns were placed on #12, 26, and 27. Teeth #11, 21, 22, and 23 had lingual rest seat and #24 had mesial rest seat to improve stability and support of the obturator. This clinical report presents the prosthetic management of a patient treated with obturator on the maxilla using swing-lock attachment to the remaining teeth.

• 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.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.106-109
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• 2011

Oral cancer treatment involves the surgical removal of all or part of the maxilla, leaving the patient with a defect that compromises the integrity and function of the oral cavity. The postoperative restoration of esthetics, deglutition, and speech shortens recovery time in the hospital and expedites the patient's return to the community as a functioning member. The surgical obturator is the proven treatment option in such situations. This article describes a simple technique to fabricate a surgical obturator that restores patient's original dentition and facial and palatal tissue form. The obturator fabricated with this technique utilizes the vacuum formed index of patient's original tissue form and duplicated partly in heat and partly in auto polymerizing acrylic resin. Duplication of the original tissue form helps patient to minimize the immense physiological trauma immediately after the surgical resection. The obturator fabricated with this technique supports soft tissues after surgery and minimizes scar contracture and disfigurement, and thus may have a positive effect on the patients' psychology.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.322-329
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• 2016

Reconstruction of the maxillectomy with an obturator is to restore masticatory, swallowing, phonetic and esthetic problems. Stress created by lateral forces is minimized by the proper selection of an occlusal scheme, elimination of premature occlusal contacts, and wide distribution of supporting area. It should be considered that properly designed retainers reduce the stresses transmitted to the abutment while the obturator is in function. The following clinical report presents palatal obturator treatment with implant assisted removable partial denture (IARPD) design that restores normal function and esthetics in patients who experienced maxillectomy and dental implant failure.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2023

Maxillary bone defects may follow surgical treatment of benign and malignant tumors, trauma, and infection. Palatal defects often lead to problems with swallowing and pronunciation from the leakage of air into the nasal cavity and sinus. Obturators have been commonly used to solve these problems, but long-term use of the device may cause irritation of the oral mucosa or damage to the abutment teeth. Utilizing implants in the edentulous area for the fabrication of the obturators has gained attention. This case report describes a patient, who had undergone partial resection of the maxilla due to adenocarcinoma, in need of a new obturator after losing abutment teeth after long-term use of the previous obturator. Implants were placed in strategic locations, and an implant-retained maxillary obturator was fabricated, showing satisfactory results in the rehabilitation of multiple aspects, including palatal defect, masticatory function, swallowing, pronunciation, and aesthetics.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 2016

Oral mucormycosis is a fungal infection observed mainly in elderly immunocompromised patients. In rare instances, the disease occurs in healthy individuals and those patients that are below preschool age. Although this condition mainly involves the maxilla, it may also manifest in any part of the oral cavity based on the source of infection. Mucormycosis of the maxilla spreads rapidly, leading to necrosis of the palatal bone and palatal perforation. Such patients are usually rehabilitated using bone grafting or free flap surgeries. However, when surgeries are delayed, palatal prosthesis is an interim treatment modality that can prevent nasal regurgitation and aspiration of food or fluids. Palatal prostheses also help with mastication, speech, and swallowing. The present case describes a rare case of oral mucormycosis in an 18-month-old male involving the maxilla that was managed by palatal prosthesis.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.143-151
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• 2007

One of the treatment methods for maxillary cancers or infections in maxilla is maxillectomy. Palatal defect can be resulted from this operation and it may cause functional problems with swallowing and speech, and psychological problems of patients. After maxillectomy, as rehabilitation, there can be two options. One is a prosthodontic treatment using obturator and the other is surgical reconstruction of defect with graft. As both methods have advantages and disadvantages, in determining treatment method after maxillectomy, various factors have to be considered. The purpose of this study is to compare the prosthodontic group to surgical group after maxillectomy with elapsed days prior to commencement of postoperative oral feeding, and to analyze the results of prosthodontic treatment and surgical treatment. During the period from March of 2000 to June of 2006, 74 patients were treatment by prosthodontic methods for maxillary defect. Among these patients, patients who had only velopharyngeal deficiency after surgery, whose data were incomplete, whose causes of palatal defect were not the treatment of diseases in maxilla, and who already had palatal defect due to previous surgery were excluded in this study. The patients who underwent maxillectomy for the treatment of diseases in the maxilla and were treated immediately after operation using surgical reconstruction or prosthodontic rehabilitation were included in this study. The records of 43 patients were reviewed to compare and to analyze the prosthodontic treatment and surgical reconstruction after maxillectomy. The median of days elapsed prior to commencement of postoperative oral feeding in the prosthodontic group was compared with data of surgical group. The data was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test (${\alpha}$=.05). Days elapsed prior to postoperative oral feeding commencement in the prosthodontic group were less than those in the surgical group.