Digital workflow as aesthetic solution in special needs patients

OBJECTIVES: Huntington’s disease (HD) is a rare, neurodegenerative disease that affects the central nervous system and it is characterized by involuntary movements of chorea, dementia, behavioural and psychiatric disorders; dysphagia is a typical symptom of HD increasing with the progression of the disease: the ability to produce speech and swallow foods is gradually reduced, and some patients can even risk choking.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Treating HD patients with dysphagia is often complex for oral health professionals who should therefore thoroughly control both the materials inserted into the oral cavity of the patient and the liquids (water and saliva, primarily) by means of adequate suctioning.

RESULTS: The solution to this case with the use of the latest digital dentistry techniques represents a great hope for the future, given the ongoing improvements in terms of precision and effectiveness by manufacturers.

CONCLUSIONS: New technologies clinicians have at their disposal, such as digital data acquisition through intraoral scanning devices, will increasingly make possible the creation of rehabilitation products (prostheses, inlays, etc.) in people for whom the use of traditional impression taking materials to detect structures would be complex or impossible.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The aim of this case report is to show advantages of a digital workflow to realize aesthetic treatment in HD patients.

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