Prosthodontic Rehabilitation of Completely Edentulous Patient with Velopharyngeal Insufficiency

Velopharyngeal insufficiency refers to patients with inadequate length of the hard and/or soft palate to affect velopharyngeal closure, but with movement of the remaining tissues within normal physiologic limits. Velopharyngeal deficiencies may be congenital or acquired. Acquired soft palate defects result from surgical resection of neoplastic disease. Surgical reconstruction was not indicated for patients with acquired defects because of excessive tissue loss, or is contraindicated because of the need to monitor the tumor site for recurrent disease. Surgical reconstruction of extensive acquired surgical defects of the soft palate can result in deficient, nonfunctioning velopharyngeal mechanism, and compromise subsequent prosthetic intervention. Rehabilitation of velopharyngeal insufficiency is challenging for both surgical and prosthetic fields. In this case report, a complete denture with velopharyngeal obturator prosthesis has been used for rehabilitation of an edentulous patient with acquired soft palate defect.