[An attempt to recover aesthetic appearance and mastication to a patient having strong vomiting reflex].

METHODS

A 37 year-old male visited the hospital with aesthetic dissatisfaction and mastication functional disease due to multiple tooth loss as thr chief complaint. As the patient had a strong gagging reflex, intravenous sedation and inhalation sedation were used, enabling full-mouth prosthetic treatment to be performed.

CONCLUSIONS

Improvement of aesthetic dissatisfaction and recovery of mastication function were considered to have been achieved with fixed prosthetic restoration alone, allowing the specific occlusal relationship to be maintained. The procedure was made possible by controlling the patient's dental phobia and gagging reflex with sedation and performing the restoration prosthesis treatment in each block while the patient was sedated.

CONCLUSIONS

As the patient's gagging reflex exhibited reduced sensitivity following treatment, it was considered to have a significant psychogenic component: this must be taken into account in future treatment so that medical staff avoid instigating or exacerbating the patient's gagging reflex.