Author/Authors :
tükel, hüseyin can çukurova üniversitesi - dis hekimligi fakültesi - dis ve çene cerrahisi anabilim dali, Adana, turkey , benlidayı, mehmet emre çukurova üniversitesi - dis hekimligi fakültesi - dis ve çene cerrahisi anabilim dali, Adana, turkey , tatlı, ufuk çukurova üniversitesi - dis hekimligi fakültesi - dis ve çene cerrahisi anabilim dali, Adana, turkey , uzel, aslıhan çukurova üniversitesi - dis hekimligi fakültesi - ortodonti anabilim dali, Adana, turkey , uzun, selen begüm ankara üniversitesi - tip fakültesi - biyoistatistik anabilim dali, Ankara, turkey , kürkçü, mehmet çukurova üniversitesi - dis hekimligi fakültesi - dis ve çene cerrahisi anabilim dali, Adana, turkey
Abstract :
OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to compare the pharyngeal airway dimensions before and after surgically-assisted maxillary expansion with a transpalatal distractor (TPD+SAME) in adult patients with a transverse maxillary deficiency (TMD). MATERIALS AND METHOD: Patients who had more than 5 mm of TMD were included in this study. All patients underwent standard Le-Fort I osteotomies with maxillary midline osteotomy and maxillary expansion. Four months later, the distractor was removed, and transpalatal arch was applied. Before the operation and at least six months after the distraction, cone-beam computed tomography images were taken. Using the airway module of Dolphin 3D Surgery Imaging software, nasopharyngeal, retropalatal and retroglossal volumes, and the smallest cross-sectional area of the pharyngeal airway were measured. The normal distribution assumption was controlled by using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Paired t-test was used for the measurements that had normal distribution, while the Wilcoxon test was used for the measurements that lacked normal distribution. Statistical significance was set at p≤0.05. RESULTS: Nine female (42.9%) and 12 male (57.1%) patients (total 21) were included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 22.8±5.7 years. The mean follow-up period was 22±11.1 months. For the retropalatal, retroglossal, and total airway volumes and the minimum cross-sectional area of the pharyngeal airway, no statistically significant differences were found between the measurements obtained before and after the TPD+SAME treatment. However, there was a statistically significant difference between the measurements of the nasopharynx volume before and after the TPD+SAME treatment (p≤0.05). CONCLUSION: There was a significant increase in the nasopharyngeal volume after the TPD+SAME treatment. Volumetric and cross-sectional changes in other regions of the pharyngeal airway were not significant.
