Maxillary dental arch dimensions in 6-year-old children with articulatory speech disorders.

AIMS: To evaluate maxillary dental arch dimensions in 6-year-old children with articulatory speech disorders and to compare their dental arch dimensions with age- and sex-matched controls without speech disorders.

METHODS

Fifty-two children (15 girls) with errors in the articulation of the sounds /r/, /s/ or /l/ were compared retrospectively with age- and sex-matched controls from dental casts taken at a mean age of 6.4 years (range 5.0-8.4). All children with articulatory speech disorders had been referred to City of Helsinki Health Care, Dental Care Department by a phoniatrician or a speech therapist in order to get oral-motor activators (removable palatal plates) to be used in their speech therapy. A χ2-test and paired Student's t tests were used in the statistical analyses.

RESULTS

The children with articulatory speech disorders had similar maxillary dental arch widths but smaller maxillary dental arch length than the controls.

CONCLUSION

This small series suggests that 6-year-old children with articulatory speech disorders may have decreased maxillary dental arch length.