One of the most rapidly growing areas of dentistry of both interest and need is maxillofacial prosthetics. Malignant tumours of the upper gum and hard palate account for 1-5% of malignant neoplasms of the oral cavity; two thirds of the lesions which involve these areas are squamous cell carcinomas. Most of these carcinomas are diagnosed late, when they invade the underlying bone. The procedures...

IntroductIon In case of patients with palatal insufficiency, speech and deglutition becomes arduous, thereby requiring prosthodontic rehabilitation. The prosthodontic rehabilitation of patients with acquired defects of the maxilla after surgical resection is the complete responsibility of a maxillofacial prosthodontist. He has to recreate an artificial barrier between the cavities and thus rest...

What could be better than improving the comfort and quality of life of a patient with a life-threatening disease? Maxillectomy, the partial or total removal of the maxilla in patients suffering from benign or malignant neoplasms, creates a challenging defect for the maxillofacial prosthodontist when attempting to provide an effective obturator. Although previous methods have been described for ...

Maxillectomy defects can result in oroantral communication that may lead to difficulty in swallowing, deglutition, impaired speech, and not to mention the resultant facial disfigurement. The prosthodontist in addition to the surgeon of course, plays a significant role in restoration and rehabilitation of such defects, as good functional results have been reported for patients provided with obtu...

BACKGROUND Restoration of speech after surgical resection for oropharyngeal cancer traditionally includes maxillofacial prosthetic intervention. Relatively few publications with objective speech outcomes exist. The purpose of this study was to evaluate speech outcome relative to the size of the surgical defect, the type of speech prosthesis, and the height and position of the speech bulb in rel...