Cephalometric evaluation and comparison of upper pharyngeal airway space in cleft lip and cleft palate patients treated with maxillary advancement and camouflage

Introduction: Pharyngeal airway space has become an important criterion for diagnosis and treatment planning and this has led to a paradigm shift towards soft tissue evaluation for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning, The aims and objectives of the study were to evaluate and compare upper pharyngeal airway space in Cleft Lip & Cleft Palate patients who underwent orthodontic treatment under different treatment modalities like Camouflage treatment & Maxillary Advancement. Methods: This is a retrospective cephalometric study in which 20 Pre-treatment Cephalograms and 20 Post-treatment Cephalograms of Cleft Lip and Palate patients were taken. Orthodontic treatment involving Camouflage therapy and Maxillary Advancement were studied in each respective group. The Cephalogram was traced on Matt acetate paper and the pharyngeal airway space was measured using the McNamara analysis method. Results: Statistically significant difference was observed in the Pre-treatment and Post-treatment mean values in both groups, where the Post-treatment mean was higher than the Pre-treatment means in both groups. A highly significant mean was noted in the Cleft Surgical group as compared to the Camouflage (xiii) group, where, the post-treatment upper airway mean was higher in the Cleft Surgical group than the Cleft Camouflage group. Conclusion: There is a significant increase in upper pharyngeal airway space in patients with CLCP treated with Maxillary Advancement and Camouflage modality. The significance is comparatively more in the Maxillary Advancement group than in the Camouflage group.