title: The effect of maxillary advancement and impaction on the upper airway after bimaxillary surgery to correct Class III malocclusion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the upper airway changes after simultaneous maxillary advancement/impaction and mandibular setback in skeletal Class III malocclusion.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects included 76 patients whose treatment included 1-piece LeFort I and bilateral sagittal split osteotomies. Lateral cephalograms were taken before surgery and 2 months and 3 years postoperatively. In order to analyze the effect of maxillary repositioning, the material was divided into subgroups according to whether the maxillary impaction and advancement were clinically significant (≥2 mm) or not.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Advancement of the maxilla with or without impaction resulted in a significant long-term increase (P <0.001) in airway dimension at the nasopharyngeal level (13%-21% increase). At the oropharyngeal and retrolingual levels, a decrease took place but was significant (P <0.05) only at the oropharyngeal level when the maxilla was not impacted. When the maxilla was not advanced, there was no significant change, except at the hypopharyngeal level (12% decrease) (P <0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinically significant advancement (≥2 mm) of the maxilla significantly increased the airway dimension at the nasopharyngeal level and to some extent compensated for the effect of mandibular setback at the hypopharyngeal level.
authors: Department of Orthodontics, Riga Stradins University, Rigo, Latvia.
authors: Gundega
authors: G
authors: Jakobsone
authors: Arild
authors: A
authors: Stenvik
authors: Lisen
authors: L
authors: Espeland
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002508:Cephalometry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019248:Jaw Fixation Techniques; D008297:Male; D008313:Malocclusion, Angle Class III / Q000601:surgery*; D008334:Mandible / Q000601:surgery; D008437:Maxilla / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D056948:Orthognathic Surgical Procedures; D019340:Osteotomy, Le Fort; D010614:Pharynx / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D055815:Young Adult