To Determine the Head Posture in Oral Breathing Children: A Cephalometric Study

Objective: Mouth breathing, being a cause for various orthodontic problems, has been a subject of concern to orthodontists since years. This study was aimed to analyze the influence, mouth breathing on the head posture and to compare variations in head posture between physiologic breathing and mouth breathing groups. Materials and methods: Lateral cephalograms of 25 physiologic breathing (PB) and 25 mouth breathing (MB) children within the age group of 8 to 14 years were analyzed using standard cephalometric parameters. The Student’s t-test was used to determine, if significant cephalometric differences existed between the MB and the PB children. Values in male and female subjects were determined and expressed as mean and standard deviation. Results: The findings revealed that craniofacial morphology in mouth breathers differs profoundly when compared to that of the physiologic breathers. Conclusion: There should be an early interception of mouth breathing in growing children as these postural changes, if maintained for long periods, could lead to severe skeletal deformities.