• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.631-639
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• 2009

Ectodermal dysplasia is a genetic disease which shows various congenital dysplasias in tissues differentiated from the ectoderm. As the most common type of the ectodermal dysplasia, hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia(HED) shows dysplasia mainly in the hair, fingernails, teeth and the skin. Symptoms are more severe in males than in females and heterozygous females are usually normal showing no symptom. The treatment for these patients differ according to individuals, but since patients can easily become depressed socially and emotionally due to a decrease in mastication and speech function caused by multiple loss of teeth as well as some aesthetic problems, an early treatment is required. In a case, with a 10 years-old boy diagnosed with HED which shows partial edentia of the maxilla, and the edentia of the mandible in the pediatric dentistry department of the Chosun University Dental Hospital, a fabrication of denture resulted in the recovery of mastication and speech function and aesthetic improvement due to an increase of the face height.