Children with a deformity to their palate like the fistula (hole) seen here, are unable to pronounce sounds correctly. Often they sound nasal and/or have air seeping through their palate or alveolar thus impairing their speech. Impaired speech can lead to oral defensiveness. And, too often as the child ages he/she may simply stop talking. At any of these stages, school and learning take on new challenges.
Marlene is our speech therapist on this mission. She’s been working tirelessly evaluating every child and adult that has come seeking help from Rotaplast. Often that help is in the form of surgery and in other cases it’s with a dental prosthetic or continued speech therapy. Here, Marlene looks into a scope to view the movement of the soft palate as Maria makes various sounds.
JR is an orthodontist from California and works closely with Marlene and the surgeons. He’s been busy taking dental impressions and making prosthetic devices. Here JR performs a tooth extraction. JR has a calm gentle way with his patients.