87 Archives of Orofacial Sciences. 2021; 16(1): 87–94 http://aos.usm.my/  Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia. 2021 This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CASE REPORT Volume 16 Issue 1 2021 DOI: 10.21315/aos2021.16.1.9 ARTICLE INFO Submitted: 27/8/2020 Accepted: 26/1/2021 Online: 25/6/2021 INTRODUCTION The soft palate along with posterior and lateral pharyngeal walls establishes velopharyngeal (VP) closure. However, resection of soft palate due to tumors of tonsils, soft palate or posterior pharyngeal wall adversely affects this VP closure mechanism due to velopharyngeal insuffciency (VPI) (Curtis & Beumer, 1996). The diagnosis of VP insuffciency can be made with perceptual speech evaluation, multi-view video fuoroscopy (MVF), nasopharyngoscopy (Seagle et al., 2002; Pegoraro-Krook et al., 2008; Sie et al., 2008) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Atik et al., 2008; Kao et al., 2008). Surgical correction and prosthetic rehabilitation are the mainstay procedures for treatment of VPI. There are various surgical options available for management of VPI including pharyngeal faps and pharyngoplasty surgeries (Meek et al., 2003; Sipp et al., 2008; Van Lierde et al., 2008; Mink van der Molen et al., 2009). However, if surgical procedures are deemed unsuitable then How to cite this article: Wadud A, Tanveer W, Chotprasert N, Srithavaj T (2021). Role of speech aid prosthesis as diagnostic and therapeutic aid for velopharyngeal insuffciency defect: A case report. Arch Orofac Sci, 16(1): 87–94. https://doi.org/10.21315/aos2021.16.1.9 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.21315/aos2021.16.1.9 ABSTRACT Soft palate tumors pose the challenge during reconstructive and rehabilitating procedures. Surgical resection of these tumors leads to velopharyngeal insuffciency (VPI). The primary effects of VPI are hypernasality and air-fow escape, while the secondary effects are abnormalities in speech articulation. Surgical revision along with speech therapy is a common approach to the treatment of VPI. Prosthetic management by means of speech aid prosthesis helps to reduce resonance, nasal emission and consonants errors. This clinical report describes the different stages of rehabilitation of velopharyngeal insuffciency defect following resection of malignant melanoma of left posterior alveolar ridge and soft palate. The speech aid prosthesis helped to rehabilitate the velopharyngeal insuffciency defect and aided in the diagnosis of extent of speech function improvement by perceptual and objective methods. Keywords: Hypernasality; nasalance score; nasometer; speech aid prosthesis; velopharyngeal insuffciency Role of Speech Aid Prosthesis as Diagnostic and Therapeutic Aid for Velopharyngeal Insufciency Defect: A Case Report Asikul Wadud a , Waqas Tanveer b *, Natdhanai Chotprasert c , Theerathavaj Srithavaj c a Department of Prosthodontics, Update Dental College & Hospital, Dhaka University, Dhaka-1711, Bangladesh b Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, VU University Medical Center, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands c Maxillofacial Prosthetics Unit, Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand * Corresponding author: waqas_tanveer30@hotmail.com