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Aim: To evaluate the effect of hollow bulb obturator prosthesis on articulation and nasalance in maxillectomy patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 10 patients, who were to undergo maxillectomy, falling under Aramany classes I and II, with normal speech and hearing pattern were selected for the study. They were provided with definitive maxillary obturators after complete healing of the defect. The patients were asked to wear the obturator for six weeks and speech analysis was done to measure changes in articulation and nasalance at four different stages of treatment, namely, preoperative, postoperative (after complete healing, that is, 3-4 months after surgery), after 24 hours, and after six weeks of providing the obturators. Articulation was measured objectively for distortion, addition, substitution, and omission by a speech pathologist, and nasalance was measured by Dr. Speech software. Results: The statistical comparison of preoperative and six weeks post rehabilitation levels showed insignificance in articulation and nasalance. Comparison of post surgery complete healing with six weeks after rehabilitation showed significant differences in both nasalance and articulation. Conclusion: Providing an obturator improves the speech closer to presurgical levels of articulation and there is improvement in nasality also.

Long-term clinical failures of cemented prosthesis depend, to a large extent, on the integrity of the luting agent. The causative factors that lead to microfracture and, hence, failure of the luting agents are the stresses acting inside the oral cavity. Therefore, the present study was designed to develop an understanding of the relationship between stresses in the tooth and the failure potential of the luting agent. Two-dimensional finite element stress analysis was performed on the mandibular second premolar. The behavior of zinc-phosphate and glass-ionomer were studied under different crowns (metal-ceramic and metal crown) and loading conditions (mechanical force of 450 N acting vertically over the occlusal surface, thermal loads of 60° and 0°C). It was observed from the study that failure threshold of the luting agent was influenced both by the elastic modulus of the luting agent and by the type of the crown.

Purpose of study : Proper color match of a dental restoration with the adjacent teeth is important not only at the initial stage of giving the restoration but also over a longer period of time. Out of different materials Porcelain has established itself as being color stable and durable but composites are known to be susceptible to discoloration because of internal mechanisms, external contamination and staining. The newer universal composite systems are optimized in terms of composition to minimize internal discoloration but still not much attention is given to resistance to external staining. Procedure : Visual shade matching and color determination being a psychophysical phenomenon suffer from subjective variations in interpretation, therefore the present study was undertaken to evaluate and compare the color stability of a porcelain (Vitadur alpha) and two universal composites (Filtek Z 250 and Tetric Ceram) after exposure to commonly consumed beverages i.e. tea, coffee, coca-cola and distilled water (as control) by using a reflectance spectrophotometer and CIELAB system. Conclusion : T0 he color match of esthetic restorations in the oral cavity is affected by dietary habits