• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2019

A patient who went through maxillectomy can have soft palate defects including oronasal fistulas and suffer from dysphagia and dysarthria due to velopharyngeal insufficiency. This defect causes the food to enter nasal cavity and creates hypernasal sound which debilitates a quality of life. An obturator can rehabilitate the substantial oral tissue defects. The maxillary obturator separates the nasopharynx from the oropharynx during speech and deglutition by closing of the defect. For edentulous obturator patient, it is difficult to obtain proper retention due to reduced peripheral sealing. Therefore, the contours of the defects must be used to maximize the retention, stability, and support. Hollow type obturator can improve physiologic function by reducing weight than the traditional obturator. This case report describes a patient with hemi-maxillectomy who recovers mastication, speech, deglutition, and appearance with a maxillary obturator using physiological border molding of the velopharyngeal area and double-processing method.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.121-130
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• 2023

In children, large odontogenic cysts affect adjacent anatomical structures as well as displace developing permanent teeth. Odontogenic cysts are treated via enucleation or marsupialization. This case reports a 5-year-old boy and a 10-year-old boy who have not only displaced 3 or more permanent teeth but also elevated the maxillary sinus floor due to the large size of the cyst in the maxillary anterior region. In both cases, marsupialization was selected to minimize complications. After marsupialization, a customized acrylic obturator, window opening, and orthodontic traction for eruption guidance were gradually attempted, and it showed a good prognosis, so we report these cases.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2010

Maxillectomy is a treatment option for maxillary cancer, which leaves the patient with a palatal defect. It may cause problems with facial deformation, swallowing, mastication, and speech. These functional problems and changes in appearance may result in psychological problems. To control these deficits after maxillectomy, surgical reconstruction or prosthodontic treatment can be chosen as a treatment option. Obturator prosthesis has been used as a preferred method of rehabilitation for most maxillectomy patients. This case is a patient who was classified Aramany classification II hemi-maxillectomy patient with residual teeth from #11-25, whose teeth had substantial labioversion and clinically lengthened from alveolar bone involution, thus making it hard to select proper framework design and resist to the rotational dislodging force of the obturator. Therefore we selected swing-lock attachment design to remain pre-existing crown and bridges and obtain retention and stability of obturator. The swing-lock RPD is economical than the conventional RPD because we can remain pre-existing crown and bridges. And residual teeth which have mobility and poor prognosis can be successfully retained through properly designed swing-lock RPD as it is functioning as a removable splint on the teeth.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2018

Prosthetic rehabilitation of an edentulous patient who has a maxillary defect is difficult to achieve for many clinicians. The maxillary defect causes leakage of air during pronunciation and compromises denture stability, support and retention by reducing denture-bearing area and breaking peripheral seal. In these patients, the sizes and shapes of defects are very important factors which attribute to prognosis of maxillary obturators. This case report shows the prosthetic rehabilitation of the patient who had maxillectomy on the right maxillary sinus because of squamous cell carcinoma. The patient had a stepwise treatment protocol which started with pre-operative dental examination and followed by surgical, interim and definitive obturation phase. In this case, an acceptable level of retention could be obtained due to well-defined static defects and the preserved premaxillae and the patient was satisfied with the result of the treatment in the aspect of function and esthetics.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2019

This case report presents a closed hollow bulb obturator made by 3D printing for a maxillectomy patient. Final impression was taken according to the instructions and impression trays provided by the Magic $denture^{TM}$ system. Vertical dimension, facial appearance, and retention had been checked with the try-in denture. The try-in denture was corrected and adjusted to fulfill the demand of the patients, then these were reflected to the final design of the denture. The defect area was designed as a closed hollow bulb shape to reduce the weight and to provide uniform thickness of the denture. The patient satisfied with the esthetics and function of the denture.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.352-360
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• 1997

It has been reported that There is a relatively high incidence of congenital cleft lip and palate among congenital anomalies. Children with the cleft lip and palate confront various problems ranging from feeding difficulties as infants to frequent ear infections, compromised speech, aberrant dentofacial development, malocclusion and esthetic impairment with its unfavorable effects on the psychosocial adaptation of the individual. Management of these patients is a process that starts in infancy and continues on into adulthood. Through a team approach, professionals from various fields convene to assess the needs of the child and to assist the parents in dealing with the situation. A pediatric dentist, one of the team, must advise the parents the way of feeding or make an obturator for normal feeding and weight gain of infants with cleft lip and/or palate. An obturator can aid nursing, stimulate orofacial development, help develop the palatal shelves, prevent tongue distortions, prevent nasal septum irritation, decrease chance of ear infections, expand collaped maxillary segments, constrict the expanded anterior part of the maxilla, reposition the premaxilla, and help the parents psychologically. Three cases of infants with cleft lip and palate were managed with the obturator at the Dept. of Pediatric Dentistry, Kyung Hee University. In all cases, infants showed normal feeding and weight gaining after the insertion of the obturator.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.222-228
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• 2011

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the stress distributions and the displacements of obturator for edentulous maxillectomy patients and to compare them with those of complete denture using three-dimensional finite element analysis. Materials and methods: Based on the CT image of edentulous patient, three-dimensional finite element model of edentulous maxillae was constructed. Three-dimensional finite element model of edentulous maxillae with palatal defect was also fabricated. On each model, complete denture and obturator prosthesis were created. Vertical static force of 200 N was applied on the left maxillary premolar and molar region. The von Mises stress values and the displacements of models were analyzed using three-dimensional finite element analysis. Results: Maximum von Mises stress values were recorded in the cortical bones of both models. The von Mises stress value in the complete denture model was 2.73 MPa and 2.69 MPa in the obturator model. High von Mises stress values were also observed on the tissue surface of prosthesis. The maximum value of the displacement in the obturator was higher than that of complete denture. Conclusion: The obturator showed a worse result in terms of stress distribution and displacement than complete denture. In the prosthodontic rehabilitation of edentulous maxillectomy patient accurate impression procedure based on patients'anatomy and application of prosthodontic principle should be considered.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.388-393
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• 2000

Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common congenital defects in oro-maxillo-facial region. Because most patients undergo surgical repair in early life, the sagittal jaw relationships used to be deteriorated gradually from palate surgery up to adulthood. Also, the maxillary lateral incisor may be absent or atypical-shaped in the cleft site and may not erupt or erupt ectopically, so multidisciplinary dental cares are needed for cleft lip and palate patients. The effects of the cleft lip and alveolus seem to be limited to that part of the dentofacial complex that surrounds the cleft area. In the maxillary arch, the anterior part of the non cleft segment has a tendency to be rotated forward. On the other hand, the cleft segment has a tendency to rotated slightly medially ; hence, the tendency for canines to be edge-to-edge and sometimes in crossbite. Lip and alveolus surgery adequetely correct these problems, with little untoward effect on the skeletal maxillary-mandible relationships. In this report, the patient has a repaired lip and cleft alveolus on the left side with congenital missing on '62, '22, oronasal fistula, and skeletal class III malocclusion which is not affected by lip surgery. Dental treatments for this patient including orthodontic(space supervision, functional regulator in mixed dentition, fixed therapy in permanent dentition) and prosthodontic(removable obturator with key and keyway attachment and Konus crown) therapy were performed to improve the patient's functions and esthetics.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2013

PURPOSE. To longitudinally assess the quality of life in maxillectomy patients rehabilitated with obturator prosthesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Thirty-six subjects were enrolled in the span of 16 months, out of which six were dropouts. Subjects (age group 20-60 years) with maxillary defects, irrespective of the cause, planned for definite obturator prosthesis, were recruited. The Hindi version of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, Head and Neck version 1 of Quality of Life Questionnaire was used before surgical intervention and one month after definitive obturator. Questionnaire includes 35 questions related to the patient's physical health, well being, psychological status, social relation and environmental conditions. The data were processed with statistical package for social science (SPSS). Probability level of P<.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS. The quality of life after rehabilitation with obturator prosthesis was 81.48% (${\pm}13.64$) on average. On item-level, maximum mean scores were obtained for items problem with teeth ($1.87{\pm}0.94$), pain in mouth ($1.80{\pm}0.92$), trouble in eating ($1.70{\pm}0.88$), trouble in talking to other people ($1.60{\pm}1.22$), problems in swallowing solid food ($1.57{\pm}1.22$) and bothering appearance ($1.53{\pm}1.04$); while minimum scores were obtained for the items coughing ($1.17{\pm}0.38$), hoarseness of voice ($1.17{\pm}0.53$), painful throat ($1.13{\pm}0.43$), trouble in having social contacts with friends ($1.10{\pm}0.40$) and trouble having physical contacts with family or friends ($1.10{\pm}0.31$). CONCLUSION. Obturator prosthesis is a highly positive and non-invasive approach to improve the quality of life of patients with maxillectomy defects.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.143-151
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• 2007

One of the treatment methods for maxillary cancers or infections in maxilla is maxillectomy. Palatal defect can be resulted from this operation and it may cause functional problems with swallowing and speech, and psychological problems of patients. After maxillectomy, as rehabilitation, there can be two options. One is a prosthodontic treatment using obturator and the other is surgical reconstruction of defect with graft. As both methods have advantages and disadvantages, in determining treatment method after maxillectomy, various factors have to be considered. The purpose of this study is to compare the prosthodontic group to surgical group after maxillectomy with elapsed days prior to commencement of postoperative oral feeding, and to analyze the results of prosthodontic treatment and surgical treatment. During the period from March of 2000 to June of 2006, 74 patients were treatment by prosthodontic methods for maxillary defect. Among these patients, patients who had only velopharyngeal deficiency after surgery, whose data were incomplete, whose causes of palatal defect were not the treatment of diseases in maxilla, and who already had palatal defect due to previous surgery were excluded in this study. The patients who underwent maxillectomy for the treatment of diseases in the maxilla and were treated immediately after operation using surgical reconstruction or prosthodontic rehabilitation were included in this study. The records of 43 patients were reviewed to compare and to analyze the prosthodontic treatment and surgical reconstruction after maxillectomy. The median of days elapsed prior to commencement of postoperative oral feeding in the prosthodontic group was compared with data of surgical group. The data was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test (${\alpha}$=.05). Days elapsed prior to postoperative oral feeding commencement in the prosthodontic group were less than those in the surgical group.