Respiratory Function in Relation to Facial Morphology and the Dentition

The findings are based on a study of 81 mouth-breathing patients with hypertrophic adenoid vegetations where adenoidectomy was performed. These patients have been compared with a similar number of control cases with the same sex and ages but without any nasal obstruction problems. A 5-year follow-up study on the same material has also been carried out. The results have shown that Children who had difficulties in nasal breathing were characterized by increases in both the lower and total facial heights; the sagittal depth of the bony nasopharynx was less; the tongue had a lower position; the upper arch was narrow; the upper and lower incisors were retroclined; the palatal vault was of normal height; there was a cross-bite or tendency towards cross-bite, a tendency towards open bite and normal antero-posterior relationship between upper and lower jaws. After adenoidectomy there was a normalization of the inclination of the upper and lower incisors, of the upper arch width, of the sagittal depth of the bony nasopharynx and of the inclination of the mandibular plane to the maxilla. The mechanism behind these changes is discussed. The results support the theory that disturbed nasal respiration can affect both facial morphology and the dentition.