Anandarajah, Seerone (2015) 3-D pharyngeal airway related to facial morphology, upper cervical vertebral column morphology and skeletal maturation in children: a pilot study. Professional Doctorate (Research) thesis, James Cook University.

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Abstract

Pharyngeal airway dimensions are associated with growth, anatomical, postural and mechanical factors, but the interactions of these associations are not yet fully understood. Therefore the aim of the present study was to examine and relate the pharyngeal airway dimensions to dentofacial morphology, upper cervical vertebral column morphology and skeletal maturation in pre-orthodontic children. Furthermore, parameters with the greatest relevance to airway dimensions were analysed.

Subjects and Methods:

Airway volume, minimal cross-sectional area and upper cervical vertebral column morphology were 3-dimensionlly assessed on 105 CBCT scans of healthy pre-orthodontic children (44 boys, 61 girls; mean age, 10.7 ± 2.4 years). Cephalometric features and skeletal maturity were assessed on generated 2-dimensional cephalograms.

Associations were tested by Spearman correlation analyses and analyses of variance (ANOVA). The effect of gender, age and skeletal maturation and the parameters with the greatest relevance to airway dimensions were tested by linear regression analysis.

Results:

The airway volume and minimal cross-sectional area were greater in children of an older age than younger age (p<0.001, p<0.01 respectively). After adjustment for the effect of age, skeletal maturity and gender, there were moderate positive associations with maxillary and mandibular width and airway volume (r = 0.53**, 0.60*** respectively) and weak positive associations with minimal cross-sectional area (r = 0.35**, r = 0.35*** respectively). Anterior face height (r = 0.51*) and upper anterior face height (r = 0.52*) had moderate positive associations with airway volume whereas sagittal jaw relationship had a weak negative association with minimal cross-sectional area (r= -0.35*). Gender, molar occlusion and upper cervical vertebral column morphology were not significantly associated with airway dimensions. Mandibular width and age were the most relevant factors for airway volume (r2 = 0.36). Mandibular width and sagittal jaw relationship were the most relevant factors for minimal crosssectional area (r2 = 0.16).

Conclusion:

The results indicate that airway volume and minimal cross-sectional area have a weak to moderate association with age, skeletal maturation and craniofacial dimensions in pre-orthodontic children.

Item ID:	45252
Item Type:	Thesis (Professional Doctorate (Research))
Keywords:	airway dimensions; airway size; bone age; cervical vertebrae; children; dentofacial morphology morphology; orthodontics; pharyngeal airway; pharynx; pre-orthodontics; Skeletal maturity; three dimensional (3-D)
Date Deposited:	18 Aug 2016 06:25
FoR Codes:	11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1105 Dentistry > 110506 Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics @ 100%
SEO Codes:	92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920115 Respiratory System and Diseases (incl. Asthma) @ 100%
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