Morphological changes in the pharyngeal airway space following orthodontic treatment of skeletal open bite

Abstract

It has been reported that oral parafunctional habits such as tongue thrusting and mouth breathing are frequently found in orthodontic patients. Correlation between malocclusion, in particular open bite, and oral parafunctional habits has been investigated extensively. 3 Oral parafunctional habits are known to affect not only over-occlusion, but also dentofacial morphology. Patients with strong physiological swelling of the pharyngeal tonsils exhibit pharyngeal airway narrowing. Narrowing of the pharyngeal airway space often causes mouth breathing due to nasal breathing impairment and a low position of the tongue, leading to adenoid facies. Patients with adenoid facies often have the common features of labial slanting of the anterior maxilla, maxillary dental arch narrowing with open bite, bradyauxesis of the mandible and excessive lower anterior facial height. They often develop severe malocclusion. It has been reported that retruded mandibular position due to bradyauxesis causes a decrease in oral cavity volume and backward displacement of the tongue and tongue root, and Morphological changes in the pharyngeal airway space following orthodontic treatment of skeletal open bite