PURPOSE: to evaluate the need for speech therapy intervention in patients treated in the orthodontic clinic of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. METHODS: clinical examinations, application of questionnaire and clinical medical register analysis of 42 patients under orthodontic treatment in the Federal University of Juiz de Fora had been carried out. The first phase of this study was made up by the evaluation of the habitual tongue position, breathing function, deglutition and speech. Soon afterwards, data were obtained on morphologic aspects of the dental occlusion and information on the presence of deleterious oral habits. RESULTS: one noticed that 92% of the examined ones presented alterations in the chew and the deglutition and 52% had some speech dysfunction. The graphical comparison of the measures for each variable suggests that it has the highest trend to have alteration in the chew in the individuals that are in orthodontic treatment for 19 months or above. The same is yet not valid for the subjects that showed alterations in speech and deglutition. CONCLUSION: the importance of speech intervention was noted in this study, especially in the alterations in chewing, the initial phase of orthodontic treatment.
Speech; Language and Hearing Sciences; Orthodontics; Dentistry
