Evaluation of palatal prosthesis for the treatment of velopharyngeal dysfunction

Abstract

Some patients presenting velopharyngeal dysfunction need treatment with a palatal prosthesis, and few researches attempt to evaluate the judgement of its efficacy. For that reason, a questionnaire was submitted to 48 patients with a palatal prosthesis, with ages from 8 to 74 (mean 31.47), from which 42 had a congenital cleft, 2 exhibited an acquired cleft and 4 presented total or partial palsy of the soft palate. Results reveled that 81.2% of these patients were able to eat while using their prostheses; 85.4% stated their speech had improved with the prostheses; 75% considered the prosthesis stable during nourishment, and 91.7% during speech; 79.2% felt comfortable using the prosthesis; and 85.4% related a general improvement in life quality with the prosthetic treatment of velopharyngeal dysfunction. It was concluded that the prosthetic treatment of velopharyngeal dysfunction demonstrated efficacy in improving speech, despite of the heterogeneous sample. Besides, it offered the other basic requirements of a prosthesis whenever it was needed.