RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLASS I-II MALOCCLUSIONS AND UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT DISEASES
In recent years, there has been an increase in the prevalence of dental anomalies among children, and sagittal occlusion anomalies range from 33 to 67% of them. Quite high prevalence of distal occlusion causes morphological changes in the structure of the dentition that lead not only to functional impairment in the dentofacial system, but also in the entire oropharyngeal area. This forces scientists to search for new methods for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of the conditions. The purpose of this study is to determine and compare anatomical dimensions (anteroposterior size and volume) of the upper respiratory tract in patients with occlusion pathology class I and II on the basis of cone-beam computed tomography. We measured the width of the upper, lower part of the pharynx according to the McNamara method, and the volume on 46 tomograms of patients with dentoalveolar anomalies aged from 8 to 29 years, who were divided into two groups according to the ANB angle into classes I and II. The patients of the group I had the average volume of 10.1 ± 1.27 cm3. According to the McNamara method, the width of the upper pharynx was 17.41 ± 0.44 mm, and width of the lower pharynx was 10.1 ± 0.73 mm. The patients of group 2 showed that the average value of the airpassageways volume was 9.3 ± 0.71 cm3. There was a statistically significant difference in the reduction of the width of the upper pharynx (р˂0, 05). Decrease in the width of the lower respiratory tract in the 1st and 2nd groups in the patients aged 15-29 years may be associated with changes in the cervical spine, resulting from postural disorders of the locomotive apparatus, which increases with age and affects the severity of the dental anomaly and the narrowing of the airways in the lower part.