Evaluation of retrospective cephalometric growth changes of sagittal airway in skeletal class 2 patients with complete functional treatment

The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the changes in sagittal airway dimensions of patients with skeletal class 2 malocclusion characterized by growing functionally treated mandibular retrognathia using lateral cephalometric radiographs. A total of 101 patients, 47 boys and 54 girls, aged 9-16 years, treated with removable and fixed appliances were included in the study. Groups were formed according to gender and appliance type, and a total of 202 lateral cephalometric radiographs taken before (T0) and after (T1) functional treatment of patients who used 65 removable appliances and 36 fixed appliances in the same standard Nemoceph (Nemotec, 2006, Madrid, Spain) program evaluated using While SNA, SNB and ANB angles are used in skeletal evaluation, lower airway size (PNS-AD1), upper airway size (PNS-AD2), lower adenoid tissue size (AD1-BA), upper adenoid tissue size (AD2-HO), upper airway size (PNS-AD2) are used in airway evaluation. Linear measurements of the pharyngeal space (SPS), middle pharyngeal space (MPS), and lower pharyngeal space (IPS) were used. While the comparison of the data obtained for the group was made with the paried sample t-test, the comparison between the groups was made with the independent sample t-test. The decrease in SNA angle and AD1-BA and AD2-HO dimensions, and the increase in SNB, ANB angles and PNS-AD1, PNS-AD2, SPS, MPS and IPS dimensions in the T1 period compared to the T0 period in the whole patient group were statistically significant (p<0, 05). While the decrease in the AD2-HO dimension in the T1 period compared to the T0 period in men was statistically significant (p<0.05), no significant change was found in the AD1-BA dimension (p>0.05). While the increase in SPS and IPS dimensions was statistically significant in girls and in the removable appliance group in the T1 period compared to the T0 period (p<0.05), no significant change was found in the MPS dimension (p>0.05). In the fixed appliance group, the increase in the IPS size in the T1 period compared to the T0 period was statistically significant (p<0.05), while there was no significant change in the SPS and MPS dimensions (p>0.05). In the T1 period, the increase in the SNB angle and the decrease in the ANB angle were statistically significantly higher in the removable appliance group compared to the fixed appliance group, while the decrease in the AD1-BA dimension was statistically significantly higher in girls than in boys (p<0.05). As a result of the study, functional treatment of skeletal class 2 malocclusion provided normal growth and development and increased sagittal airway dimensions. It is seen that these significant increases may play an important role in the prevention of respiratory problems that may occur later.