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. Conclusion: The findings of this study lead us to note that dentofacial anomalies are related to asthma.

Keywords:

• asthma
• dentofacial anomalies
• rhinitis
• orthodontic assessment