Prosthetic Rehabilitation of an Insidiously Enlarged Traumatic Palatal Perforation after Orotracheal Intubation in a Young Diabetic Child.

This report describes an unusual case of an insidiously enlarged traumatic palatal perforation after orotracheal intubation in a four-year-old female child with Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM). The child was first diagnosed with diabetes at 10 months of age when she was hospitalized for pneumonia. Severe respiratory distress warranted assisted ventilation via orotracheal intubation. Multiple factors namely infection, relative immunodeficiency, poor wound healing, trauma via orotracheal intubation as well as uncontrolled glucose levels, all contributed to the formation and deterioration of the palatal perforation. A palatal obturator was fabricated as an interim treatment until surgical closure could be performed.