Long term effects of the palatal plate therapy for the orofacial regulation in children with Down syndrome

The objective of this study was to evaluate long term effects of orofacial regulation therapy with modified Castillo-Morales palatal plate on 68 Down children that attended our Unit from 1992 to 2001. Corrections obtained with palatal plate therapy were evaluated according to the following parameters: spontaneous lingual protrusion based on three level scale, position "open mouth", labial hypotonia and sialorrhea. The results showed distinct improvement in nearly all of the parameters compared to initial conditions.