Dear Dr. Phan,

Many thanks for your response, and for your generous comments about my husband's service in Vietnam. FYI....He was stationed at Long Binh, and served at first at Fire Support Base Rita, in the Fish Hook area near the Cambodian border. While at Rita, his encampment was over-run by the Vietcong, and his unit lost 12 killed and had 25 wounded, and my husband was the only medical officer there....fresh out of medical school. His colonel was wounded that night (and my husband received a medal for valor that night) and the colonel's saga was later featured on A & E. It showed a documentary film of the night of the attack, and I ordered it and have it here. It does not show my husband, but it shows the incoming artillery, and it shows the colonel being treated behind a barn. It doesn't show the young doctor treating him.

My prosthodontist feels that the curved wire attatchment around the final tooth will eventually put too much stress on that tooth, since it is the lateral incisor and is not considered to be a strong tooth. I currently have several clasps on the molars on the non-surgery side, and a very small curved wire clasp on the incisor. It does not go around to the front and is hardly visible.

My problem is that I have no assurance that crowning the teeth and having the male/female clip on the back side will improve the stability of the obturator. My speech is actually excellent, even though there is a slight bit of movement in the appliance. I sing also, and occasionally I feel/hear some vibration in the appliance as it shifts slightly.

There is slight movement which makes my tissues sore by day's end.

There is some leakage of liquids that we are attempting to remedy. There is leakage even when I clench my teeth to hold the appliance securely in place.

I want the best speech and singing that I can get, and of course my prosthodontist can not guarantee that I will have a better result than I have now.

Nor can you, of course.

But I do want to look and feel as normal as possible.

Thanks for listening.

Colleen--T-2N0M0 SCC dx'd 12/28/05...Hemi-maxillectomy, partial palatectomy, neck dissection 1/4/06....clear margins, neg. nodes....no radiation, no chemo....Cancer-free at 4 years!