Análise quantitativa do palato duro em diferentes modos respiratórios e tipos faciais

Abstract

Many studies mention the morphological changes of the hard palate occurring in the presence of mouth breathing, and the morphological variations of this structure according to the facial typology. However, only a few studies have emphasized this structure, especially through quantitative measures. Objectives: 1) To compare the hard palate dimensions among nasal and mouth breathing children of obstructive and vicious etiology. 2) To compare the hard palate dimensions among nasal and mouth breathing children having different facial typologies. Materials and Methods: Seventy-six children took part in the study, 37 boys and 39 girls, mean age of 9.32 ± 1.16 years old. All the children underwent speech-language evaluation for breathing mode classification; otorhynolaryngologic evaluation for breathing mode and etiology of mouth breathing diagnosis; cephalometric evaluation for determining the facial type; dental evaluation to obtain plaster cast models of the superior dental arch, which allowed the study of hard palate dimensions with a digital caliper. Transverse and vertical measurements of the hard palate were developed in the level of canine, first premolar, second premolar and first molar teeth, as well as the measurement of the anteroposterior hard palate lenght. Hard palate dimensions were compared among the groups, which were constituted according to the breathing mode, mouth breathing etiology and facial type through parametric and nonparametric tests at a significance level of 5%. Results: The results indicated that mouth breathing children presented narrower hard palate in the level of second premolars and first molars, and deeper hard palate in the level of second premolars than the nasal breathing ones. It became evident as well that mouth breathing children of vicious etiology presented higher hard palate depth in the level of canines when compared to obstructive mouth breathing children. No statistically significant difference was found for the comparison among the hard palate measures of brachyfacial, mesofacial and dolichofacial children, except for the second premolars distance in the different facial types of nasal and mouth breathing children. Conclusions: The hard palate dimensions in the study group were influenced by the breathing mode and the different etiologies of mouth breathing. On the other hand, these dimensions didn t show any variation across the different facial types regardless the breathing mode, except for the distance between the second premolars when the facial type was analyzed in nasal and mouth breathers.