Question: Does pharyngeal airway restriction affect the growth of the maxilla? Which findings can be ascertained. Is there a relation between the extent of obstruction and the developemental disorders of the maxilla?
Methode: The most narrow transversal area of the pharynx is measured with transversal MRI image. The results are compared to the transversal width of the maxilla and its pathological findings.
Result: The analysis of 18 patients with maxillary deficiencies compute a square footage of 19mm² to 70mm² for the female and 25,5mm² to 49,5mm² for the male patients. The reference control group with regular developed maxilla and no ENT findings or anamnesis had distinct better pharyngeal areas with measured values from 195mm² to 225mm².
Discussion: It is obvious that pharyngeal obstruction effect maxillar development disorders which result in lateral or frontal cross bite or canine shortage of space. Every patient with a verified pharyngeal obstruction had one of these pathological findings. Even though it could not be prove that there will exist a closely coherence between the measure of the transversal width and the narrowness of the pharynx, this study verifies the association between respiratory obstruction and maxillary growth inhibition.
Conclusion: The study prove the thesis that respiratory obstruction induce developmentally disorders of the maxilla.