Is there a correlation between nasal septum deviation and maxillary transversal deficiency? A retrospective study on prepubertal subjects

Introduction: Deviated nasal septum may cause a reduction of the nasal airflow, thus, during the craniofacial development, a reduced nasal airflow could originate a chronic mouth-breathing pattern, related with moderate to severe maxillary constriction. The aim of this retrospective study is to analyze the correlation between maxillary transverse deficiency and nasal septum deviation.Methods: Frontal cephalograms were performed on 66 posterior-anterior radiographs of subjects (34M, 32F; mean age 9.95 +/- 2.50 years) with maxillary transverse deficiency and on a control group of 31 posterior-anterior radiographs of subjects (13M, 18F; 9.29 +/- 2.08 years). Angular parameters of the nasal cavities were recorded and compared between the two groups using a Student's t-test.Results: Generally all the parameters are very similar between the two groups except for the ASY angle that differs for about the 27%; anyway the Student's t-test showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups (mostly p > 0.20).Conclusions: This study failed to show an association between transverse maxillary deficiencies and nasal septum deviations. Moreover, no significant differences were found between the mean nasal cavities dimensions in subjects with transverse maxillary deficiency and the control group. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.