Pulkit Chandra

Abstract

Xerostomia is a clinical condition caused by a reduced secretion of saliva in the oral cavity. Xerostomia in itself is not a disease but rather a manifestation of injury/destruction of the salivary glands by some disease or radiation therapy. As seen in today’s world most of the xerostomic cases seen are patients who have received radiotherapy in the head and neck area for treating one or the other form of cancer, which causes damage to the glandular function and structure of the major and minor salivary glands. Multiple root caries, fungal infections, impairment of speech and difficulties in chewing and swallowing food are some of the many complications that are caused by the reduced salivary production in the oral cavity. The difficulty level raises many folds if the patient is edentulous and is/will be a denture wearer due to soreness and frequent ulceration of the mucosa. As far as the solutions to this problem are concerned, many intra-oral devices /appliances such as the salivary reservoir in denture patients, have been tried which allow the slow release of artificial salivary substitutes into the oral cavity to provide some kind of relief to the patient. However most of the techniques present in the literature for the fabrication of a salivary reservoir either make the denture extremely bulky or quite expensive for the general public to afford. Therefore in this case we have described a technique that is simple, cost effective and novel, illustrating the incorporation of a salivary reservoir in a maxillary denture with salivary substitute along with the management of a resorbed mandibular edentulous ridge. Keywords: Xerostomia, Reservoir denture, Salivary substitutes, Complete denture, Radiotherapy, Neutral zone, Resorbed ridge.

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Abstract

Rehabilitation of a mutilated dentition is one of the most challenging task for a prosthodontist. Reorganization of occlusion may be required in treating severely worn out denti­tions, developmental anomalies, acquired defects, ill fitting, long span fixed partial dentures and TMJ disorders. Vertical dimension of occlusion, centric relation, occlusal contact pattern, aesthetics and phonetics all have a major role and need to be delicately and precisely balanced simultaneously for both anterior and posterior teeth during occlusal rehabilitations. Different schools of thoughts have been documented for rehabilitation of such cases and the choice of the treatment plan depends on the skill and experience of the clinician. This clinical report describes the full mouth rehabilitation of a severely worn out dentition, in functional harmony with the stomatognathic system. Keywords: Full mouth rehabilitation, Attrition, Cross Bite, Smile Designing, Occlusion.

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