Evaluation of Speech for a Patient with an Extensive Soft Palate Defect, Before and After Fabrication of Obturator

Maxi l lary ob tura tor prostheses res tore the congenital or acquired defects o f the sof t palate and al lo w adequate closure of palatopharyngeal sphincter .Our pa tient , a 30 -year -old female wi th a diagnosis o f soft palate defec t presented wi th co mpla ints o f speech di fficul ty and hyper nasa li ty. There was his tory of surgery for ame loblas toma of hard and soft palate one month ago . Intra oral examinat ion revealed a soft pa la te defec t . S ince the pa tient had full dent i t ion, pharyngeal obtura tor with c lasp retent ion was given. Adequate velopharyngeal closure was detec ted af ter the pa tient was examined dur ing dr inking water in the upward head posi t ion. Moreover no nasa l re flux was observed. A speech pa thologis t confirmed that the hyper -nasa li ty was reduced immediate ly and advised for speech tra ining c lasses. The production of oral and nasa l consonants and the speech was no ticeab ly improved after percep tua l speech evalua tion. We therefore emphasize the integrat ion of an interdisc ipl inary team in order to increase the eff icacy of rehab il i ta t ion ant the quali ty o f l i fe of these pat ients.