Impact of Oral Appliance Therapy: Are Oral Skills and Growth Maintained One Year after Termination of Therapy?

Abstract

To determine the impact of intraoral appliance (ISMAR) therapy on functional feeding skills and growth, children with cerebral palsy and moderate dysphagia were followed a full year after termination of one year of ISMAR therapy. Seventeen children, 6.6-15.4 years old (mean age = 10.2 ± 3.0 years), were divided into two groups: group A (n = 9) continued to wear the appliance and group B (n = 8) no longer wore the appliance. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to test differences between the two groups over time while accounting for the dependence for the repeated within-subject measurements. No significant differences were found in the 7 domains of functional feeding. Significant time × group interactions for weight (kg and z-score 0.01 < p < 0.05) were found. However, post hoc analyses showed that there were no significant differences in weight changes between the two groups at either 18 or 24 months of followup. These results suggest that during a one-year period of followup, maturation was equally effective as ISMAR therapy.