Oropharyngeal airway changes after rapidpalatal expansion evaluated with cone-beamcomputed tomography

摘要

Introduction: The aims of this retrospective study were to use cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)to assess changes in the volume of the oropharynx in growing patients with maxillary constriction treatedby rapid palatal expansion (RPE) and to compare them with changes in age- and sex-matched orthodonticpatients. Methods: The experimental group consisted of 24 patients (mean age, 12.8 +- 1.88 years) with max-illary constriction who were treated with hyrax palatal expanders; the control group comprised 24 age- andsex-matched patients (mean age, 12.8 +- 1.85 years) who were just starting regular orthodontic treatment.Beginning and progress CBCT scans, taken in the supine position, were analyzed with software to measurevolume, length, and minimal cross-sectional area of the oropharyngeal airway. The 2 groups were comparedwith paired f tests. Results: Only retropalatal airway volume was found to be significantly different betweengroups before treatment (P = 0.011), and this difference remained after treatment (P = 0.024). No other sta-tistically significant differences were found relative to changes in volume, length, or minimum cross-sectionalarea of the oropharyngeal airway between the groups, but the molar-to-molar width after RPE increasedsignificantly compared with the controls (P <0.001). Conclusions: Narrow oropharyngeal airways in growingpatients with maxillary constriction was demonstrated. But there was no evidence to support the hypothesisthat RPE could enlarge oropharyngeal airway volume.