A study to compare nasopharyngeal airway space in skeletal Class I, Class II, and Class III malocclusion

Background: Studies in the past have assessed relation between airway and type of malocclusion and found no association between rhinomanometric measures of airway adequacy and type of malocclusion or craniofacial morphology. Hence, the present study was undertaken to test whether there is any association between pharyngeal airway and type of malocclusion. Methodology: The subjects were divided into 3 groups based on skeletal pattern with 20 subjects in each group: Group 1 with Class I skeletal pattern, Group 2 with Class II skeletal pattern, and Group 3 with Class III skeletal pattern. All the cephalograms were taken in natural head position. Results: There is no significant difference found in total nasopharyngeal area between 3 groups. However, aerial area was significantly reduced in Group 3 (398.4 mm2) than that of Group 2 (485.737 mm2) (P = 0.012). Whereas, significant reduction in adenoidal area was observed in Group 2 (184.021 mm2) when compared with that of Group 3 (286.183 mm2). Conclusion: There was no statistically significant relationship between different skeletal groups and nasopharyngeal soft-tissue characteristics, except for two measurements i.e. aerial and adenoidal area of Group 2 and Group 3.