Martin Oscar, Muelas Leonor, Viñas M José
Department of Orthodontics, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain.
Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2006 Oct;130(4):436.e1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ajodo.2006.03.022.
The aim of this study was to assess nasopharyngeal soft-tissue patterns in patients with ideal occlusion.
A sample of 91 patients was selected from the Dental School at Complutense University of Madrid. None of the subjects had a history of sleep disorder, snoring, sleep apnea, upper airway disease, adenoidectomy, or pathology in the pharynx. Lateral cephalograms were digitized, and linear and area measures were made to define the airway pattern. Error analysis was performed to prevent systematic or random errors. The Student t test and the Pearson correlation analysis were applied to compare sex differences and variable correlations. A factorial data analysis was also applied to prove a group-dependant relationship between variables.
Nasopharyngeal soft-tissue patterns were different in men and women. Nasal fossa, cranial base, and adenoidal tissue were larger in men. All variables except lower pharynx dimension were statistically related. Great dependence was observed between some variables: upper airway thickness explained 60% of the changes in upper pharyngeal dimension and 67% of the changes in aerial area. Cranial base length was also statistically related with different variables that define the airway, mainly nasal fossa length and lower airway thickness. Nasal fossa length was statistically correlated with upper airway thickness. McNamara's lower pharyngeal dimension did not depend on other variables used in this study. Five groups of variables tended to be related among themselves but not with others.
This study suggests new lines of investigation into the relationship between skeletal and dental anomalies and airway obstruction, and possible specific respiratory patterns for each type of malocclusion.
本研究的目的是评估咬合正常患者的鼻咽软组织形态。
从马德里康普顿斯大学牙科学院选取了91名患者作为样本。所有受试者均无睡眠障碍、打鼾、睡眠呼吸暂停、上气道疾病、腺样体切除术或咽部病变史。对头颅侧位片进行数字化处理，并进行线性和面积测量以确定气道形态。进行误差分析以防止系统误差或随机误差。应用学生t检验和皮尔逊相关分析来比较性别差异和变量相关性。还应用因子数据分析来证明变量之间的组依赖关系。
男性和女性的鼻咽软组织形态不同。男性的鼻窝、颅底和腺样体组织较大。除下咽尺寸外，所有变量均具有统计学相关性。观察到一些变量之间存在高度依赖性：上气道厚度解释了上咽尺寸变化的60%和气道面积变化的67%。颅底长度也与定义气道的不同变量具有统计学相关性，主要是鼻窝长度和下气道厚度。鼻窝长度与上气道厚度具有统计学相关性。麦克纳马拉的下咽尺寸不依赖于本研究中使用的其他变量。五组变量之间倾向于相互关联，但与其他变量无关。
本研究为骨骼和牙齿异常与气道阻塞之间的关系以及每种错牙合类型可能的特定呼吸模式提出了新的研究方向。
