Comparative study of pharyngeal airway space according to dentofacial deformities in cephalometric radiographs

Abstract

Objectives: Compare the dimension of the upper and lower pharyngeal airspace between the skeletal deformities class I, II and III in cephalometric radiographs. Material and methods: A retrospective type of study was made where there were analyzed 106 side radiogra- phies, taken in the X-ray center of the University health Center of the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences UPC between the years 2011 and 2014. Through the program Nemoceph® the main cephalometrics points and tracings were marked to be able to obtain the skeletal deformity (Steiner) and the dimension of the upper and lower airspace (McNamara). Results: In the upper pharyngeal airspace it was found that the highest aver- age dimension was 17.68 mm founded in the dentofacial deformation class III, and the lowest in class II with a value of 13.71 mm. Fort the lower airspace, the highest average was 15.98mm and the lowest 13.19mm, also founded in skeletal deformation Class III and Class II respectively. While comparing the size of the pharyngeal space between classes of deformity, it was found that there is statistically significant difference between the upper airspace of skeletal deformities class II and III with a value of p = 0.001; and in the lower, between classes III - I and III - II with values of p=0.0236 and p=0.0042 respectively. Conclusions: In this study it was found that there is a statistically significant difference in the upper and lower pharingeal airspace between the three dentofacial skeletal deformities.