Testings of the ostial patency and penetrance

In the present study, consisting of 118 cases of maxillary sinusitis with retention of secretion, ostial patency and penetrance were examined three times during each examination, natively, postsuctionally and postirrigationally, by using consecutive measuring technique. Results indicate that, when both ostial respiratory patency and sniff/blow penetrance were tested in these afore-mentioned three phases at each examination that the information gained about ostial patency and penetrance is most representative when the most normal of these results, i.e. the optimal result, is taken as the finding. This is particularly important when testing the ostial penetrance. Observed inconsistencies between the results of the patency and penetrance tests are apparently due to the different pressures used in testing ostial patency and penetrance.