• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.317-323
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• 2018

When oral cancer develops in the maxilla, oro-nasal communication occurs after surgical treatment including removal of the primary site. Restoration through an obturator is necessary to prevent food from storing due to non-oral opening, and to ensure proper pronunciation and aesthetic restoration. In this case, the patient was treated with right hemi-maxillectomy due to oral cancer and has residual abutment and poor periodontal support due to the effect of head and neck radiotherapy. The obturator was treated with a hybrid telescopic double crown denture. Reporting a successful prognosis in 18 months of follow-up.

• 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 Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2023

Maxillary bone defects may follow surgical treatment of benign and malignant tumors, trauma, and infection. Palatal defects often lead to problems with swallowing and pronunciation from the leakage of air into the nasal cavity and sinus. Obturators have been commonly used to solve these problems, but long-term use of the device may cause irritation of the oral mucosa or damage to the abutment teeth. Utilizing implants in the edentulous area for the fabrication of the obturators has gained attention. This case report describes a patient, who had undergone partial resection of the maxilla due to adenocarcinoma, in need of a new obturator after losing abutment teeth after long-term use of the previous obturator. Implants were placed in strategic locations, and an implant-retained maxillary obturator was fabricated, showing satisfactory results in the rehabilitation of multiple aspects, including palatal defect, masticatory function, swallowing, pronunciation, and aesthetics.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.235-238
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• 2012

Facial prosthesis is generally considered over surgical reconstruction to restore function and appearance in patients with facial defects that resulted from cancer resection. Retention of the prosthesis is challenging due to its size and weight. Retention can be achieved by using medical grade adhesives, resilient attachments, clips and osseointegrated implants. It can also be connected to obturator by magnets. This clinical report highlights the rehabilitation of a lateral midfacial defect with a two piece prosthesis that included an extra oral facial prosthesis and an intraoral obturator with the use of magnets.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2022

This research introduces the manufacturing process of the metal-framework of one of the maxillary partial dentures, the "obturator", using milling wax-blocks, for patients with palate loss due to oral cancer. It explains the protocol of taking the patient's oral impression, preparation of a working cast, scanning, designing using a computer-aided design program, investing the milling wax-blocks, and completing the obturator. This method does not follow the traditional wax and agar process thereby reducing the errors arising during the manufacturing process and decreasing the time, material, and labor required. Moreover, the retention, stability, and compatibility of the metal framework were observed to be high in both the working cast and oral cavity.

• 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.

• 대한치과보철학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1994.05a
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• pp.49.1-49.1
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• 1994

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 2013

Cleft lip and palate is congenital deformity in oral and maxillofacial area. Normal soft palate has velopharyngeal closure action by connecting oral cavity and nasal cavity at rest and moving upward at swallowing and specific pronunciation. Cleft palate patients with velopharyngeal insufficiency have difficulty in mastication, swallowing and pronunciation because velopharyngeal closure is incomplete. At this time, a prosthetic device used to cover palate defects is called a palatal obturator. A palatal obturator separates oral cavity and nasal cavity and recovers pronunciation, mastication, swallowing and esthetic function. The purpose of this case study is to report the results because it reaches a satisfactory result in functional and esthetic aspects through functional impression procedures using modeling compound and tissue conditioner for restoration of a cleft palate patient with velopharyngeal insufficiency.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.319-324
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• 2017

Patients with maxillectomy defects predisposed to not only difficulty in deglutition, mastication, speech but also psychological depression from impaired facial esthetics that affect life quality. Obturator prostheses play a important role in restoring the lost form, function and the quality of life for patients with maxillectomy defects. This clinical report presents the simplified approach to predict the degree of adequate facial support by Artificial palate which reflected from a maxillary interim obturator during the stabilization period after maxillectomy.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.198-204
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• 2017

Maxillofacial defect comes from congenital defect, trauma and surgical resection. Patients with intraoral defect are commonly related to maxillary defect and they need prosthetic rehabilitation. Functional reconstruction of partially edentulous mandible has many limitations. However, if both condyles are intact, maxillofacial prosthesis using partial denture give competent results. In this case, a patient of 58 year-old male has a defect on palate and left mandibular posterior teeth from gunshot. The maxillary defect of this patient is Class IV according to Aramany classification and the mandibular one is Type V according to Cantor and Curtis classification. For retention of the obturator, remaining teeth are fully utilized and artificial teeth are arranged harmoniously to provide stable occlusion. Mandibular RPD covered limited range of deformed soft tissue derived from mandibular resection surgery. With these treatments, the patient in this case showed improvements in mastication, swallowing and speech.