Abstract: Objective: Patients with tongue defects after oral cancer and oropharyngeal cancer often have varying degrees of dysphagia, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. Most patients eventually die due to concurrent aspiration pneumonia and cachexia. This research aims to find an effective treatment for dysphagia to solve this clinical problem. Diagnosis and treatment: In this case, the maxillary prosthetic device was used to reshape the shape of the hard palate to improve the contact between the tongue and the hard palate during swallowing. At the same time, combined with Shaker rehabilitation training, the strength of the remaining suprahyoid muscles was strengthened to improve the swallowing function of patients with tongue defects after oral cancer surgery. At the same time, the validity and feasibility of this method are evaluated. Results: The water swallow test was upgraded to level II, with a speech speed detection of 6±1, which basically reached the preoperative level. The overall range of tongue movement of the patient was significantly increased, and the flexibility was also significantly improved after 3 months of intervention. Conclusions: The combination of palatal augmentation prosthesis (PAP) and Shaker exercise can effectively improve the swallowing function of patients with tongue defects after tongue cancer surgery.

Key words: tongue cancer, tongue defect, swallowing disorder, palatal augmentation prosthesis (PAP), Shaker exercise