Evaluation of the Relationship between Airway Volumes and Vertical Facial Growth Patterns in Adult Patients

Introdouction: This study investigated the potential relationship between vertical facial growth patterns and airway volumes in a sample of Iranian adult patients. Materials and methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on 72 adult patients (44 females, 28 males), ages 18&ndash; 45 years, who had been referred to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology at the Shiraz University of Medical Science. The vertical growth pattern was assessed by a lateral cephalometric radiograph using two indices: morphological facial index (defined as the ratio of N-Mn and Zy-Zy distance) and Jarabak index (defined as the ratio of S-Go and N-Gn). The sizes of the superior and inferior airway compartments were measured by employing cone beam computed tomography. Data were analyzed on SPSS 21 using the Shapiro&ndash;Wilk test, p-p plot test, one-way ANOVA, t-test, and chi square tests (P < 0.05). Results: The total airway volume for all individuals was 21.72 &plusmn; 6.69 mm. There were no statistically significant differences between subjects with long, medium, or short faces regarding lower (p= 0.160) or upper (p = 0.183) airway sizes. The gender of the participants did not have a significant relationship with the lower, upper, or total airway sizes. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the current study, we found that the cone beam computed tomography data did not indicate any correlation between airway volume and vertical facial growth pattern.