RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FRONTAL SINUS WIDTH AND SKELETAL JAW PATTERN: A LATERAL CEPHALOMETRIC STUDY

Abstract

Objective:To determine the association between frontal sinus width and skeletal jaw pattern.
 Materials and Methods:Study sample include lateral cephalometric radiographs of 42 patients, 48% were male and 52% were female. Recorded measurements were as follow: maximum width of the frontal sinus, maxilla relationship to anterior cranial base (SNA), mandible relationship to anterior cranial base (SNB) ,anteroposterior maxillary and mandibular relationship (ANB), maxillary and mandibular base length. SPSS version 22 was used for analyzing the data.
 Results: Frontal sinus width was greater in class I subjects (9.29 mm) as compare to class II (8.50 mm) and class III (9.14 mm) subjects. Mean diff erence in frontal sinus width between the three skeletal classes was found to be insignifi cant (p=0.596). The correlation between frontal sinus width and length of maxillary base (r=0.23) and length of mandibular base (r=0.24) was positive. Frontal sinus width in male was greater i.e (9.60±2.64 mm) than females which was (8.41±1.37 mm).
 Conclusion:Frontal sinus as visualized on cephalometric radiograph cannot be utilized as an aid for diagnosing skeletal jaw discrepancy. Further studies need to be done assessing a three dimensional CBCT scan of frontal sinus dimension.