The integrity of the hard and soft palate is essential for the normal physiological functions of speaking, breathing, and eating.
Deficiency in this roof to the oral cavity may be the result of congenital clefts, infection, bullet wound, and extirpative operations for benign and malignant tumors.
Closing a palatal fistula can be among the most difficult of all surgical techniques, and two lining surfaces must be provided together with some degree of ridigity.
Perforations and losses not exceeding more than one half of the soft and hard palate can be repaired satisfactorily by utilizing mucoperiosteal flaps.
More extensive losses, however, require reconstruction with tissues migrated from distant donor sites.
We experienced four cases of oronasal fistula resulting from the gunshot injuries and unsuccessfully operated cleft palate, and reconstructed by utilizing local mucoperiosteal flaps.
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