Utilization of Articulatory Movements Observed by Palatography in Prosthetic Treatment

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate speech disorder improvement by the maxillary prostheses of which palatal shape were modified utilizing the palatography in the patients with maxillary defect after surgery.The palatal contour of the prostheses were examined using "Palatography including teeth" and modified so as to show proper tongue-to-palate and teeth contact. The artificial palates made of black vinyl seat covering the palate and occlusal surfaces of maxillary teeth were coated with white alginate powder and inserted into the mouths of the subjects. After pronunciation of test sound, the tongue contact areas were demonstrated by wetting of powder. Each subject's five samples of same sound were averaged by the image processor system. The test sounds were voiceless plosive, voiced plosive and flapped sounds.Changes in speech of subjects before (BT) and after insertion of the maxillary prostheses (AT) were evaluated by the articulation tests : (1) The acoustical speech articulation test ; (2) the nasality measured by Nasometer (Model 6200-2) with reference to the nasalance scores, threshold, time history ; (3) voice print analyzed by a sound spectrograph (sonagram).The subjects were ten normal dentulous adults and five patients with maxillary defect by operation. They were classified into three groups according to the extent of the defect : Class I ; within hard plate (two). ClassII ; including soft plate (one). ClassIII ; reaching as far as posterior border of soft palate (two).The results were as follows :1. The articulation test score were low in BT., but became higher in AT..2. The nasalance scores of classI, II in BT. were high, but that in AT. were fairly close to that of normal subjects. In classIII, the scores were higher than that in classI, II.3. Abnomality of the sonagram decreased in AT. of classI, II, but in classIII, it showed a little improvement.