Rehabilitation of a partial glossectomy patient: Palatal augmentation prosthesis

Abstract

Tongue-palate contact is necessary for the production of normal speech, and the proper location of the tongue on the palate during certain sounds is important. Partial glossectomy leads to difficulty in tongue-palate articulation during speech, and it becomes difficult for a patient to reach the palate with the tongue to form certain sounds. In-depth knowledge of the production of different sounds can be used as a diagnostic aid in determining the thickness of the palatal augmentation prosthesis fabricated to rehabilitate such patients. A functional wax technique is used to make a functional impression of tongue-palate contact during the speech.

Functional and esthetic rehabilitation of a patient with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue: Case report

“…A palatal augmentation prosthesis (PAP) is defined as a palatal prosthesis that allows reshaping of the hard palate to improve tongue and palate contact during speech and swallowing and facilitates restoration of function (Payal Rajender Kumar et al, 2019;Tomonori Y et al, 2022;Bachher GK & Dholam KP, 2010). In addition to restoration of function, the secondary goal of ensuring a satisfactory esthetic outcome was achieved by reconstruction with composite resins using a stratified technique.…”

Prosthetic Management of Segmentally Resected Mandible and Partial Glossectomy: A Case Report

“…Decreased tongue mobility may leads to adherence of food particles to palate and unable to clean the food particles from the palatal vault. This results in alteration of speech due to lack of tongue contact with the alveolar ridge (linguoalveolar), the hard palate (linguopalatal), teeth (linguodental), and the soft palate (linguoalveolar) [4]. Surgical resection of tip of the tongue, lateral glossectomy, removal of the base of the tongue and total glossectomy affects its function.…”

“…This could be a complete denture or removable partial denture prosthesis. Thickness of the PAP affects the phonetics and pattern of swallowing of the patient [4].…”