The Effect of Bimaxillary Surgery on the Airway Morphology in Class III Patients: Taking Into Account the Head...

To assess changes in head and neck posture, airway, hyoid, tongue, and soft palate in skeletal class III individuals whose cephalograms were taken using dynamic natural head positioning method with an inclinometer.

This study was conducted on 20 class III patients operated with double jaw surgery. Natural head positions were determined before and 6 months after the surgery. Craniocervical, pharyngeal airway, tongue, and hyoid positions were measured. In the analysis of the data, paired t test, independent sample t test and correlation tests were used.

There was a statistically significant change in the craniocervical measurements with the operation and the head position was further extended (P < 0.05). Significant changes were observed in the soft palate angles upon surgery (P < 0.026) and the increase in oropharyngeal airway area was statistically significant (P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant increase in tongue length (TL) and distance from vertical reference plane to tongue tip (TTi/VRP) measurements (P < 0.001 and P < 0.012, respectively). There was a statistically significant decrease in distance from horizontal reference plane to tongue tip (TTi/HRP) and tongue dorsum (TD/HRP) measurements (P < 0.033 and P < 0.003, respectively). The only significant change among the hyoid bone position-related measurements was distance between hyoidale and epiglottis (P < 0.013).

Hyoid bone location, tongue measurements, and posterior pharyngeal airway were found to be related to each other and they have been found to be effective on the head and neck posture. Head position will be affected by possible surgical alternatives.