Evaluation of articulation of Turkish phonemes after removable partial denture application

A Contemporary Review of Clinical Factors Involved in Speech-Perspectives from a Prosthodontist Point of View

Background and Objectives: Learning to speak properly requires a fully formed brain, good eyesight, and a functioning auditory system. Defective phonation is the outcome of a failure in the development of any of the systems or components involved in speech production. Dentures with strong phonetic skills can be fabricated with the help of a dentist who has a firm grasp of speech production and phonetic characteristics. Every dentist strives to perfect their craft by perfecting the balance between the technical, cosmetic, and acoustic aspects of dentistry, or "phonetics". The ideal prosthesis for a patient is one that not only sounds good but also functions well mechanically and aesthetically. Words are spoken by using articulators that alter their size and form. Conclusions: Therefore, a prosthesis should be made in such a way that it does not interfere with the ability to communicate. As a result, a prosthodontist has to have a solid grasp of how speech is made and the numerous parts that go into it.

Influence of pontic design of anterior fixed dental prosthesis on speech: A clinical case study

BACKGROUND

The pontic design of fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) is strongly associated with the phonetic function, and the phonetic function of anterior FDPs with different pontic designs remains understudied.

AIM

To investigate the immediate and short-term influence of pontic design of anterior FDPs on Chinese speech in a clinical case using objective acoustic analysis.

METHODS

Two FDPs with two types of pontic design (saddle pontic and modified ridge lap pontic) were fabricated for one patient with maxillary anterior teeth missing. The acoustic analysis of patient’s articulation was conducted immediately after wearing the FDPs and 1 wk after wearing these FDPs.

RESULTS

The effect of FDP on Chinese vowels (/a/, /o/, /e/, /i/, /u/, and /ü/) was insignificant, because the recovery of vowel distortion occurred within 1 wk for both FDPs. Three (/f/, /s/, and /sh/) of eight Chinese fricative consonants were found to have obvious distortions, and the /s/ sound distortion last for more than 1 wk for the patient wearing FDP with modified ridge lap pontic design.

CONCLUSION

The influence of anterior FDP on articulation of Chinese vowels is insignificant, while the articulation of Chinese fricative consonants is more susceptible. When fabricating anterior FDPs for patients with speech related professions, saddle pontic design can be an alternative option compared with modified ridge lap pontic design.

Immediate versus delayed loading of strategic mini-implants under existing removable partial dentures: patient satisfaction in a multi-center randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of the immediate and delayed loading of strategic mini-implants (MIs) on the satisfaction of patients with removable partial dentures (RPDs).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this multi-center randomized clinical trial, strategic MIs were inserted under 79 RPDs in 76 participants. Two questionnaires, one for the upper jaw and one for the lower jaw, were given before surgical intervention and 2 weeks, 4 months, 4.5 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years after implant insertion. To estimate the loading effect (immediate vs. delayed) in terms of the odds ratio, an ordinal logistic regression model was used. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test, which was corrected for clusters in the patient population, was used to evaluate changes in patient satisfaction.

RESULTS

After 4 months, a statistically significant difference in favor of the immediate loading group was recognized in terms of the overall satisfaction score. The patient satisfaction scores recorded after 4.5 months and 1, 2, and 3 years showed substantial improvements compared with the scores recorded before implant insertion in both groups. At the item level, substantial improvements were noted in the following domains: general satisfaction, RPD retention, stability, support, eating, speaking, and aesthetics.

CONCLUSIONS

Strategic MIs improved the satisfaction of patients with RPDs during the medium-term follow-up period. An earlier improvement in the satisfaction of patients with RPDs was seen after immediate loading of the MIs as compared with delayed loading.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Inserting MIs under existing RPDs can improve patients' satisfaction with their RPDs in several domains.

Spectrogram analysis of complete dentures with different thickness and palatal rugae materials on speech production

Objective. To investigate the influence of reproduction of different thickness and palatal rugae materials on complete dentures speech using Computerized Speech Lab (CSL) (spectrogram). Materials and Methods. Three completely edentulous male patients (aged 50–60 years) were selected for reading a paragraph. Twelve upper dentures were constructed, four for each patient. The patients' speech groups were divided into five groups, Group I: patients without dentures; Group II: patients rehabilitated with conventional acrylic dentures; Group III: patients with conventional acrylic dentures with rugae reproduction; Group IV: patients with dentures with metallic framework of minimal thickness and direct ragged metallic palatal surface at rugae area; Group V: patients with dentures with palatal rugae constructed from resilient acrylic resin material with thickness less than conventional denture. Speech samples were recorded after insertion of each denture for groups using Computerized Speech Lab (CSL) (spectrogram). The sounds selected were lingopalatal /s/z/sh/t/d/ and /l/. Results. Group III produced high mean significant difference with /sh/t/ sound. For Group IV, the difference was noticed with /s/z/sh/t/ and /d/ sounds, while for Group V the difference was shown with /z/l/ sound (P < 0.05). Conclusion. It is recommended to reproduce the rugae area in complete denture because the phonetic quality of complete denture with rugae is superior to the conventional denture.

A fala nas diferentes modalidades de reabilitação oral protética em idosos

TEMA: a produção da fala nas modalidades de reabilitação oral protética. OBJETIVO: verificar se o tipo de reabilitação oral interfere na produção da fala. MÉTODO: 36 idosos (média = 68 anos), divididos em 3 grupos, foram avaliados: 13 com dentes naturais (A), 13 com prótese total mucosossuportada superior e inferior (B) e 10 com prótese total mucosossuportada superior e implantossuportada inferior (C). A estabilidade das próteses foi avaliada por um dentista e amostras de fala foram analisadas por 5 fonoaudiólogos. Para determinar a freqüência de alteração dos sons da fala utilizou-se o cálculo da Porcentagem de Consoantes Corretas (PCC). RESULTADOS: observou-se poucos casos com alteração de fala, com maior freqüência no grupo C (23,08%), sendo a articulação travada presente em todos os grupos, a redução dos movimentos labiais em dois grupos (A e B) e a articulação exagerada e a falta de controle salivar em um dos grupos (C e B). Quanto à PCC, menor valor foi observado para os fones linguodentais nos grupos B e C (maior ocorrência de alteração), seguido dos fones alveolares, predominando casos sem alteração no grupo A, contrariamente aos demais grupos, sendo a projeção lingual e o ceceio as alterações mais encontradas. Não houve diferença entre os grupos e a maioria do grupo B estava com a prótese inferior insatisfatória, não havendo associação entre alteração de fala e prótese insatisfatória. CONCLUSÃO: apesar da amostra pequena, indivíduos reabilitados com prótese total apresentam alteração nos fones linguodentais e alveolares e o tipo de prótese, bem como a estabilidade desta parece não interferir na produção da fala.

Immediate and sustained changes in tongue movement with an experimental palatal "fistula": a case study

OBJECTIVE

To determine the immediate and longer-term effect(s) on tongue movement following the placement of an experimental opening through a palatal obturator (replicate of subject's prosthesis) worn by an adult male with an unrepaired cleft of the hard and soft palate.

METHODS

Tongue movements associated with an anterior experimental opening of 20 mm(2) were examined under three conditions: a control condition in which the subject wore the experimental obturator completely occluded, a condition immediately after drilling the experimental openings through the obturator, and a condition after 5 days in which the subject wore the experimental obturator with the experimental opening. An Electromagnetic Articulograph was used for obtaining tongue movements during speech.

RESULTS

The findings partly revealed that the immediate introduction of a perturbation to the speech system (experimental fistula) had a temporary effect on tongue movement. After sustained perturbation (for 5 days), the system normalized (going back toward control condition's behavior). Perceptual data were consistent with kinematic tongue movement direction in most of the cases.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the immediate response can be interpreted as indicative of the subject's attempts to move the tongue toward the opening to compensate for air loss, the findings following a sustained perturbation indicate that with time, other physiological adjustments (such as respiratory adjustments, for example) may help reestablish the requirements of a pressure-regulating system.