Effect of Palatal Surface Contouring Techniques on the Swallowing Function of Complete Denture Wearers

This study is aimed to investigate the effect of two different surface palatal contouring techniques; namely arbitrary versus functional on swallowing activity of maxillary complete denture wearers. Ten completely edentulous healthy male patients with their ages ranged between 46-65 years were selected for this study according to definite inclusion-exclusion criteria. The swallowing function was evaluated preand postdenture state by using Videofluoroscopy. The patient was asked to swallow different bolus consistencies (thin and thick liquids, semisolid and solid) in small and large volumes. The swallowing measures selected for this study were: (1) Temporal measures of bolus and hyoid movements during swallowing; (2) Oropharyngeal residue; (3) Laryngeal penetration/aspiration observation and (4) Oropharyngeal Swallow Efficiency score. The results revealed a statistically significant increase in temporal measures of swallowing after denture insertion compared to predenture state regardless the palatal surface contouring technique. Functional contouring of maxillary denture palatal surface demonstrated a statistically significant general decrease in durations of bolus and hyoid movements (except at duration of hyoid maximum elevation) during swallowing, and led to a more efficient swallowing compared to dentures with arbitrary contoured palate. It can be concluded that the difficulty of swallowing with an artificial prosthesis should be addressed before the patient first makes use of the denture to eat and drink. Functional contouring of the palatal polished surface is recommended for completely edentulous patients. A further research may be useful to study the effect of functionally contoured palate in completely edentulous patients with oro-pharyngeal dysphagia due to neurological etiologies. [Tamer Abou-Elsaad, Ahmad Habib, Mohamed Elkhodary, Abd-Allah Salem. Effect of palatal surface contouring techniques on the swallowing function of complete denture wearers. Life Science Journal 2010;7(4):114-118]. (ISSN: 1097-8135).