Abstract
Introduction: The conventional design of maxillary complete denture covers entire palate and hinders the direct contact of the tongue with palate. Thus, adversely affect speech intelligibility.
Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the speech intelligibility of complete dentures wearers having small opening in an anterior palatal base, with the conventional complete denture, without denture and with functionally contoured palatal base.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in four phases (phase one without denture, phase two with conventional complete denture, phase three with functionally contoured palatal base denture and phase four with dentures having small opening in the anterior part of the palatal base) and in each phase sound samples were recorded. Forty healthy edentulous individuals, divided in two groups. Group A: 60 to 70 years and Group B: Above 70 years, participated in the study. The sound samples recorded from each subject were assessed both quantitatively (by speech analysis software) and qualitatively (by team of speech specialist).
The recorded data was analysed using a one-way ANOVA for repeated measurements followed by the Bonferroni post-Hoc test for multiple comparisons (p <= 0.05) and Mann-Whitney U test for Likert's scale rating.
Results: A significant difference was observed in pitch and intensity of sound samples among 4 phases (p < 0.001). Highest speech intelligibility was found in phase 4 in both groups A and B (pitch-187.93 +/- 24.22 and 191.48 +/- 23.98, intensity-75.84 +/- 6.34 and 74.99 +/- 6.74 respectively) with maximum score by experts 3.18 and 3.20 respectively.
Conclusion: The small-opening type of palatal coverage improved speech intelligibility.