Effects of mouth breathing on maxillofacial and airway development in children and adolescents with different cervical vertebral maturation stages: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: BMC oral health Vol. 22; no. 1; p. 197
• Main Authors: Li, Jiahua, Zhao, Ziyi, Zheng, Leilei, Daraqel, Baraa, Liu, Jing, Hu, Yun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 23-05-2022; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adolescents; Airway development; Cardiopulmonary system; Care and treatment; Cervical vertebral maturation; Child development; Children; Cross-sectional studies; Diagnosis; Growth; Health aspects; Hypotheses; Lip; Maturation; Maxillofacial; Maxillofacial development; Medical examination; Mouth; Mouth breathing; Orthodontics; Physiological aspects; Respiratory organs; Respiratory tract; Rhinitis; Risk factors; Shortness of breath; Statistical analysis; Teenagers; Vertebrae; Vertebrae, Cervical; X-rays; China; Maxillofacial development; Mouth breathing; Cervical vertebral maturation; Airway development
• ISSN: 1472-6831; 1472-6831
• DOI: 10.1186/s12903-022-02234-x

To examine the influence of mouth breathing on maxillofacial and airway development in children and adolescents with different cervical vertebral maturation stages.
Lateral cephalometric radiograph of a total of 120 children and adolescents, 64 girls and 56 boys (7-15 years old), diagnosed with mouth breathing were examined. Maxillofacial hard tissue, soft tissue and airway measurements were obtained using both manual and digital techniques. Independent samples t-test was performed to compare the difference between the measured indexes and the standard values.
As for maxillofacial hard tissue, SNB (CS1-CS5), GoGn (CS1-CS5), ArGoNa (CS1-CS5), ArGo (CS1-CS2) and SNA (CS1-CS2) in mouth breathing children and adolescents were below the standard values (P < 0.05). NGoMe (CS1-CS5), SN-MP (CS1-CS4), SN-PP (CS1-CS4), PP-MP (CS1-CS3) and SN-GoGn (CS1-CS2) in mouth breathing children and adolescents were above the standard values (P < 0.05). As for maxillofacial soft tissue measurements, H angle (CS1-CS5), lower lip length (CS1-CS5), upper lip protrusion (CS1-CS5), upper lip length (CS1-CS4), lower lip protrusion (CS1-CS3), surface Angle (CS2-CS3) and nasolabial angle (CS2) in mouth breathing children and adolescents were above the standard values with statistically significance (P < 0.05). As for airway measurements, PAS (CS1, CS2, CS5) in mouth breathing children and adolescents was above the standard value with statistical significance (P < 0.05).
Mouth breathing had a real effect on maxillofacial and airway development, which differed among mouth breathing children and adolescents with different cervical vertebral maturation.