Comparision of orofacial airway dimensions in subject with different breathing pattern.

Summary Objective To test the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the craniofacial morphology and orofacial airway dimensions between mouth breathing (MB) and nasal breathing (NB) subjects. Materials and methods Lateral cephalometric radiographs of 34 MB subjects (mean age: 12.8±1.5 years; range: 12.0–15.2 years) and 33 NB subjects (mean 13.9±1.3 years; age range: 12.2–15.8 years) with Class I occlusion were examined. Totally, 34 measurements (27 craniofacial and 7 orofacial airway) were evaluated. Group differences were statistically evaluated by independent samples t-test at p  Results Statistical comparisons showed that SNA (p  Conclusions The null hypothesis was rejected. Mouth breathing affects craniofacial morphology and orofacial airway dimensions.