Method:
The study was an interventional study comprising of 36 patients that attended Prosthetic out-patient dental clinic of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital Benin City, Nigeria. The speech intelligibilities of the subjects were assessed using direct sentence test method. Each patient was given a text to read and the response was tape recorded before commencement of treatment and three months after the insertion of removable partial denture.
Each speech recording was evaluated by a group of 5 listeners through earphones one after the other.
Result:
There was no statistically significant difference in the mean speech intelligibility score by gender (p>0.05). Subjects with unilateral free end saddle were observed to have a significantly higher mean score compared to the subjects with bilateral free end saddle (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the mean speech intelligibility score in either unilateral or bilateral free end saddle subjects.
The subjects who received treatment in the maxilla only were observed to have a higher speech intelligibility scores compared to the subjects who received treatment in both the maxilla and mandible and mandible only. However, a statistically significant difference was seen at the post treatment phase (F=3.88,p=0.031).
At the pre-treatment phase the highest speech intelligibility score was observed among subjects who had 5, 6 and 7 missing teeth while the least speech intelligibility scores was observed in subjects who had more than 8 missing teeth. At the post treatment phase there was a significant improvement in the speech intelligibility score of those with more than 8 teeth missing.
Conclusion: There was a significant improvement in speech intelligibility after provision of RPD in patients with more than 8 teeth missing