CHANGES IN ORO-PHARYNGEAL AIRWAY DIMENSIONS AFTER TREATMENT WITH FUNCTIONAL APPLIANCE IN CLASS II SKELETAL PATTERN

BACKGROUND: Functional appliances have been used since many decades for the correction of mandibular retrognathism. Similar oral appliances are a treatment modality for patients with Obstructive sleep apnoea. Hence, interception at the right age with these growth modification appliances might benefit a child from developing long-term respiratory insufficiency. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to assess the short-term effects of Twin block appliance (CTB) on pharyngeal airway size in subjects with skeletal Class-II pattern in a sample of Pakistani population.

METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted from orthodontic records of 62 children (31 males, 31 females) with retrognathic mandibles using lateral cephalograms obtained at initial visit and after CTB treatment. Paired t-test was used to compare the pre-functional and post-functional treatment airway size. Independent sample t-test was used for comparison between the genders and statistical significance was kept at ≤ 00.5.

RESULTS: The upper airway width (p < 0.001), nasopharyngeal depth (p = 0.03) and upper airway thickness (p = 0.008) was substantially improved after CTB treatment. Males showed a greater increase in upper airway width (p = 0.03) and nasopharyngeal depth (p = 0.01) in comparison to the females.

CONCLUSION: Functional appliance therapy can improve the narrow pharyngeal airway of growing children presenting with deficient mandibles having Class-II skeletal pattern.