title: The effects of asthma on dental and facial deformities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study was to observe facial and teeth alterations in adult patients with asthma as opposed to a group who suffered from hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients included in this cross-sectional observational study were interviewed to obtain clinical data. Patients also followed an orthodontic assessment using model-facial photographic and gypsum casts to diagnose malocclusion and dentofacial deformities. Asthmatic patients were divided in two groups according to asthma onset under or over 14 years of age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 61 asthmatics and 53 hypertensive patients were evaluated. Dental midline symmetry was significantly lower in asthmatics than in the hypertensive group (p = 0.006), whereas incompetent lip posture and open nasal lip angle were significantly more frequent in the asthmatic group than in the control group (p = 0.007 and 0.016, respectively). Asthmatics had more dental crossbite (p = 0.004), overbite (p = 0.01), overjet (p = 0.01), smaller inter bicuspids distance (p = 0.0009) and inter molar distance (p = 0.0001) than the control group. More crowding than diastems was observed in asthmatic patients. An association between the crossbite (p = 0.02) and maxillary crowding (p = 0.03) was also observed with the earlier age of asthma onset.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this study lead us to note that dentofacial anomalies are related to asthma.
authors.affiliation: Lung Division, Department of Medicine, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP-EPM), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Viviana Cristina Martins
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Faria
authors.forename: Maria Alenita
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Lucia Ande
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Ilka Lopes
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.forename: Ana Luisa Godoy
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Fernandes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005146:Facial Asymmetry / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution