Long term effects of the palatal plate therapy for the orofacial regulation in children with Down syndrome

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate long term effects of orofacial regulation therapy with modified Castillo-Morales palatal plate on 68 Down children that attended our Unit from 1992 to 2001. Corrections obtained with palatal plate therapy were evaluated according to the following parameters: spontaneous lingual protrusion based on three level scale, position "open mouth", labial hypotonia and sialorrhea. The results showed distinct improvement in nearly all of the parameters compared to initial conditions.

Children with Down syndrome: oral development and morphology after use of palatal plates between 6 and 48 months of age

“…Only the child who never used either of the two plates was excluded. Previous studies have not accounted explicitly for compliance, but the number of dropouts reported indicate that compliance could have been of the same magnitude as in this study 5,6,8,23 .…”

Diagnostik und Therapie der Pierre-Robin-Sequenz

“…Zur Förde-rung der Koordination und Funktion der orofazialen Muskulatur hat sich -ähnlich wie bei Kindern mit Lippen-Kiefer-Gaumen-Spalten oder Trisomie 21 -das sog. Castillo-Morales-Konzept bewährt [14,22]. Durch Schlucken wird die Tubenbelüftung gefördert und die Häufigkeit von Schallleitungsstörungen mit dieser Therapiemethode vermindert [5].…”

Down syndrome: a risk factor for malocclusion severity?

“…2,14,19,20 Muscle hypotonia associated with a reduced volume of the oral cavity and characterized by a deep, atresic palate may lead to a tendency toward habitually projecting the tongue against the teeth or outside the mouth. 5,18,21 Abnormal function and the position of the tongue can affect tooth eruption causing anterior open bite, tooth alignment, and the arch shape. 12,22 However, these variables were not assessed in the present study.…”