Open mouth posture and cross-sectional nasal area in young children.
A biracial sample of two-hundred ninety-six children were assessed for open-mouth posture (OMP) in the natural environment. In addition, rhinometry was performed on 288 of the youngsters. Means were computed for percent OMP and cross-sectional nasal airway. Results indicated that in general these children exhibited relatively high rates of OMP. Boys displayed significantly greater OMP than girls. However, children exhibiting OMP on 80% of the observation intervals had significantly smaller cross-sectional nasal areas than the youngsters who displayed OMP on fewer than 20% of observation intervals. The implications of the findings were discussed.
Kellum
G D
GD
Department of Communicative Disorders, University of Mississippi, USA.
Gross
A M
AM
Walker
M
M
Foster
M
M
Franz
D
D
Michas
C
C
Bishop
F W
FW
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002508:Cephalometry; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009058:Mouth Breathing / Q000209:etiology*; D015508:Nasal Obstruction / Q000150:complications*; D009666:Nose / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology