Kinesiographic investigations in children with increased nasal airways resistance

The aim of this study is to evaluate by means of the kinesiographic test, how the muscular alteration, linked with mouth breathing, modifies mandibular dynamics. From a sample of children aged between 8-11 years, on the basis of increased nasal airways resistance measured with the forced oscillation technique, we selected a group of 14 subjects. These children underwent kinesiographic examination (K-System Biotronic) and they were compared to a control group. Certainly, the speeds reduction in the pathological group emerged as the most significant data. The mastication tracings on the frontal plane, in the group with increased nasal airways resistance, moreover appeared to be reduced in width, elongated in shape and sometimes irregularly square, compared to the bell shape typical of subjects without any dysfunctional pathologies. Considering that each subject responds in a personal manner to an increase of the nasal resistances, due to the extremely variable individual adaptability, the kinesiographic test, together with the electromyographic one, in our opinion, can assist anamnesis, clinical examination and other instrumental investigations, in the identification of those subjects in which the increase of the nasal airways resistance interferes with muscular function, laying the basis for possible modifications in the craniofacial growth.