Abstract

Background: Airway shape and dimensions has been attracted attention during the past few decades, this is can be attributed to the relationship between upper airway configuration and sleep-disordered breathing as well as its relation to craniofacial morphology in general.

Objectives: This study was conducted to 1. Compare the pharyngeal dimensions of subjects with different vertical growth patterns. 2. Assess the impact of modifying variables like age, and gender on airway dimensions.

Materials and Methods: Data collection was based on both cephalometric radiographs and patients' files analysis. Radiographs were grouped according to patients' ages, genders, and vertical growth pattern. Lateral cephalometric radiographs were taken using a standardized technique. SN-MP angle used to divide the sample into hypodivergent, noromodivergent, hyperdivergent growth patterns with values of < 26°, 26-38°, and >38° respectively as proposed by Isaacson., et al. The upper and lower pharyngeal airways width measured by using McNamara’s airway analysis.

Results: the widest upper and lower pharyngeal widths were found among hypodivergent subjects (20.1 ± 2.3 and 11.6 ± 4) respectively, gender differences were found in upper pharyngeal width but in the lower (17.4 ± 3.4 and 18.1 ± 3.5, 10.1 ± 2.3 and 10.2 ± 3.1) for males and females in upper and lower airways respectively. Increasing subject's ages significantly increased upper pharyngeal width but did not affect lower pharyngeal width.

Conclusion: hypodivergent patients had higher upper and lower pharyngeal width when compared to noromodivergent and hyperdivergent growth patterns. Also the UPW and LPW were slightly higher in females than in males. And increasing the age had significantly increased UPW but did not affect LPW.

Keywords: Cephalometric Radiographs; Age; Gender; Vertical Growth; Airway Dimensions

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Citation

Citation: Rabaa Mahmoud Aboubakr., et al. “Cephalometric Evaluation of Main Airway Dimensions in Subjects with Different Growth Patterns and their Relation to Patients’ Ages and Genders". Acta Scientific Dental Sciences 4.11 (2020): 84-90.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Rabaa Mahmoud Aboubakr., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.