Morphology of maxillary and frontal sinuses in different skeletal vertical malocclusions.

Abstract

Background: On every patient's lateral cephalogram, the frontal and maxillary sinuses are the most often seen paranasal sinuses. Impacted teeth alter the morphology of the frontal and maxillary sinuses. Consequently, it has an impact on the patient's look and occlusion.

Objective: To determine the mean height, width, and index of maxillary and frontal sinuses and compare them among high, average, and low-angle patients underwent orthodontic treatment.

Material and methods: A total of 192 cephalometric radiographs of patients who presented with malalignment of teeth having high, average, and low angles and underwent orthodontic treatment were selected. On radiograph, frontal sinus, maxillary sinus, and cephalometric landmarks were traced. Patients were divided into different classes of skeletal vertical malocclusion. The morphology of maxillary and frontal sinuses on lateral cephalogram was measured. Means ± SDs of the quantitative variable were calculated. ANOVA test was applied to compare maxillary and frontal sinus heights, widths, and indexes between high-angle, average-angle, and low-angle patients.

Results: The mean ± SD of height, width, and index of frontal sinus was 30.41 ± 2.59, 10.81 ± 1.53, and 3.44 ± 0.68, respectively, while these findings for maxillary sinus were 40.09 ± 2.36, 36.33 ± 3.38, and 1.11 ± 0.07, respectively. The mean frontal sinus width was significantly different among profile angles (P < 0.001), while the mean maxillary sinus width, mean maxillary sinus width, and mean maxillary sinus index were significantly different among profile angles with P < 0.001.

Conclusion: In comparison to high- and low-angle profiles, the frontal sinus width was greater in the average angle profile. The average width, breadth, and index in the maxillary sinus varied statistically between different angle profiles. In comparison to high- and low-angle profiles, the height, width, and index of the maxillary sinus were all higher in the average angle profile.