Three dimensional evaluation of pharyngeal airway volume in individuals with different malocclusions

The aim of this study was to evaluate three dimensional pharyngeal airway shape and volume in adults with different malocclusions. The sample of the study was comprised with selecting cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) datas from the achive of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology Department of Dicle University Faculty of Dentistry. CBCT datas of 89 individuals (44 girls, 45 boys) were divided into three groups due to the ANB angles as; Class I (0°4°) ve Class III (ANB<0°). Linear, areal and volumetric measurements were done by using Mimics (version 15 , Materialise Medical Co. , Leuven, Belgium) software program. One-way ANOVA analysis of variance was used to determine differences between groups. Post-hoc Tukey HSD test was used for the parameters which were found to be statistically significant between groups according to the results of this method. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine whether there is a relationship between airway parameters, cephalometric parameters and age. As a result, total airway and oropharyngeal airway volume of Class II patients are significantly smaller (p<0,01). Nasopharyngeal airway volume of Class II patients is significantly smaller than Class I patients (p<0,05). There was no statistically significant difference between airway parameters of Class I and Class III patients (p>0,05). Negative correlation was found between the ANB angle and total, oropharyngeal airway volume parameters (p<0,01).