Hi, Karen!

I, too, am a teacher (still am!), and I had a partial palatectomy and upper right maxillectomy in 2009, with chemo and rads to follow. I have been wearing an obturator since then, with great success in terms of fit, speech, eating, and drinking. I have a lot to share with you, but I have to go out of town at the moment (just saw your post!). I will be back tonight and will hop onto the Forum to continue. Short version is, my own experience with the palatal obturator has been very good -- I have been able to speak from surgery through now (and going forward, I am certain!). The first obturator they gave me they actually put in during surgery, and it was attached with (I believe) a little bit of hardware somewhere. It enabled me to speak and drink from the get-go. After that was removed, a different obturator was made, and that one clipped onto my remaining upper teeth (left side). I have gone through several versions of that, and now have a "permanent" removable obturator that works spectacularly. I take it out at night to rest my tissues, and put it in all other times (except to clean, of course). More later. There are a few of us on the Forum here, so we will walk you through things!

Hugs-
-Chris