Three-dimensional evaluation of upper airway changes following rapid maxillary expansion: A retrospective comparison with propensity score matched controls

Hussein Aljawad, Kyung-Min Lee and Hoi-Jeong Lim

PLOS ONE, 2021, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-12

Abstract: Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate upper airway changes three-dimensionally following rapid maxillary expansion (RME) and compare the changes with matched controls. Materials and methods: Seventeen patients (mean age 12.6 ± 1.8 years) with maxillary transverse deficiency were treated with RME. Using the propensity score matching method, 17 patients (mean age 12.3 ± 1.5 years) were selected from a non-RME control group of 33. Case-control matching was performed based on 5 covariates: age, gender, CBCT scan interval, sagittal skeletal pattern, and tongue posture. Airway volumes of nasopharynx and oropharynx and minimum cross-sectional areas (MCA) of oropharynx were measured and compared between the case and control groups in CBCT scan images. Results: In the case group, significant increases from before to after RME were found in all measurements except MCA of the retroglossal segment of oropharynx. Before treatment, there were no significant differences between case group and control group. While comparing the case group with the control group after treatment showed overall greater increases in the case group. In particular, MCA of retropalatal segment showed statistically significant differences. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that RME causes an increase in upper airway dimensions.

Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0261579 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 61579&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0261579

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261579

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().