Abstract

AZENHA, Marcelo Rodrigues. Alar base and nasal airway breathing changes in surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion patients. Rev. cir. traumatol. buco-maxilo-fac. [online]. 2012, vol.12, n.4, pp. 81-90. ISSN 1808-5210.

Surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion is indicated for treating patients presenting transversal deformities and whose maxillary complex sutures are totally fused. Aim: To evaluate alar base distance alterations before and after surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion and to detect any subjective nasal breathing quality improvement and aesthetic paranasal alterations after surgical procedures. Material and Methods: Nine patients aged between 17 and 29 years and presenting maxillary transversal deformities greater than 5 mm were evaluated. All patients were submitted to zygomatic and canine buttress, nasal septum and pterigomaxillary and intermaxillary osteotomies. Immediately before and 180 days after the surgical procedures alar base distances, nasal breathing quality and esthetic alterations were verified and compared. Results: There was a mean increase of 1 mm in the alar base distance 180 days after surgery and a nasal breathing quality improvement in 8 of the 9 patients. Two patients (22.2%) reported an improvement in aesthetic nasal appearance, while the remainder did not notice any alterations. Conclusions: Surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion is a safe and effective procedure for correcting transversal maxillary deformities. This procedure did not cause any aesthetic soft tissue damage and led to an improvement in nasal breathing capacity

Keywords : Maxillary expansion; nasal resistance; nasal geometry.