Abstract
Aim: The aim of this study is to reveal if different surgical procedures of the upper and lower jaw have an effect on the pharyngeal airway space (PAS). PAS is important considering the obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), since an enlargement or a reduction of the PAS can influence an existing OSA, or even be a risk factor to create an OSA.
Subjects and methods: The sample consisted of pre- and postoperative lateral cephalograms of 18 males and 26 females (mean age 23.25 ± 5.84 years). The inclusion criterion was that all patients had undergone an orthodontic surgery, either a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO) or a LeFort 1 osteotomy (LFO) or both. Only patient files, which were used for orthodontic specialization, were included in order to have all the necessary data available. Treating OSA was not an inclusion criterion. Statistics were performed with spearman correlation, Oneway ANOVA combined with a Scheffe post-hoc test and a paired t-test.
Results: Diff ANB showed a positive statistically significant correlation to Diff Spp (CC 0.367, p 0.015), as well as a negative statistically significant correlation to Diff Pg (-0.341). A positive statistically significant correlation was found between Diff t and Diff p (0.412). According to one-way ANOVA there is no evidence that there are differences in Diff p (p= 0.552) and Diff t (p=0.666) with respect to the four groups A, B, C and D. The paired t-test revealed that there is a change in p measurements between preand postoperative time points: 1.4, 95% CI (0.2; 2.6), p=0.022. There is no evidence that there is a change in t measurements between the pre- and postoperative time points: 0.87, 95% CI (-0.2; 1.9), p=0.101
Conclusion: At group level it can be summarized, that an advancement of the lower jaw has on average a positive effect on the airways while the same cannot be said for surgical interventions of the upper jaw.
Henzi, Anna