Abstract

Although skeletal mandibular prognathism can be corrected by various surgical procedures, the tongue is always pushed backward by the retruded mandibular after surgery, resulting in an increase of reactive tongue pressure to the mandibular dental arch. This change of tongue pressure seems one of causes of relapse after surgery. This is a study on the changes in tongue pressure to the mandibular dental arch when pronouncing various sounds during one year before and after sagittal splitting osteotomy in 21 cases (5 males and 16 females). After a cantilever type pressure transducer utilizing a strain gauge was attached to the lingual aspect of the anterior teeth and the molar teeth on both sides, the pressure of the tongue during the pronounciation of ten Japanese sounds was measured before and 3, 6, and 12 months after the operation.The results were follows.1. The pressure to the mandibular dental arch greatly varied according to the sounds pronounced.2. The pressure on the molar teeth was higher than that on the anterior teeth.3. For one year, the pressure on the anterior teeth after operation was continuously higher than before.4. For one year, the pressure on the right molar teeth after operation was continuously lower than before.5. The pressure on the left molar teeth was higher 3 months after the operation than before but decreased gradually resulting in a lower level than the preoperatie pressure 12 months after surgery.6. Considered as a whole, the increase in postoperative tongue pressure is not so high after sagittal splitting osteotomy, so that partial glossectomy at the same time does not seem to be clinically absolutely necessary.

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