RESEARCH ARTICLE Upper Airway Changes after Orthodontic Extraction Treatment in Adults: A Preliminary Study using Cone Beam Computed Tomography

Objective Whether the orthodontic treatment with premolar extraction and maximum anchorage in adults will lead to a narrowed upper airway remains under debated. The study aims to inves-tigate the airway changes after orthodontic extraction treatment in adult patients with Class II and hyperdivergent skeletal malocclusion. Materials and Methods This retrospective study enrolled 18 adults with Class II and hyperdivergent skeletal maloc-clusion (5 males and 13 females, 24.1 ± 3.8 years of age, BMI 20.33 ± 1.77 kg/m2). And 18 untreated controls were matched 1:1 with the treated patients for age, sex, BMI, and skele-tal pattern. CBCT images before and after treatment were obtained. DOLPHIN 11.7 soft-ware was used to reconstruct and measure the airway size, hyoid position, and craniofacial structures. Changes in the airway and craniofacial parameters from pre to post treatment were assessed by Wilcoxon signed rank test. Mann-Whitney U test was used in compari-sons of the airway parameters between the treated patients and the untreated controls. Sig