prosthetic rehabilitation of large nasal septal defect with an intranasal stent: a clinical report

Nasal septal perforation is a common complication of many nasal diseases such as congenital, infectious, trauma, and iatrogenic, and rarely may occur as a complication of systemic diseases, etc. The symptoms of uncorrected nasal septal perforations include crusting, epistaxis, difficulty in breathing, nasal twang in speech, postnasal discharge, foul-smelling, rhinorrhea, and hyposmia. Large nasal defects cannot be closed by hard acrylic resin nasal septal obturators because of the problems in access and path of insertion. However, obturation can be achieved by fabrication of a nasal stent that engages one of the nasal cavities. This clinical report describes prosthetic management of a patient with large nasal septal defect following septal surgery complication with an intranasal heat-processed acrylic resin stent. The stent is rendered patent for comfortable breathing, improves speech, is esthetically acceptable, dense and hygienic. These nasal stents indirectly separate the two nasal cavities with effective obturation of large nasal septal defects.