Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Cumhuriyet Dental Journal, cilt.28, sa.1, ss.79-87, 2025 (Scopus, TRDizin)
Objectives: In this study, the dimensions of the soft palate, the position of the hyoid bone in relation to the mandibular plane and C3 vertebrae, and the width of the upper airway were measured on lateral cephalograms of patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome of different severities diagnosed by polysomnography. This study aimed to investigate the association between increased apnea severity and anatomical formations relevant to dental practice. Materials and Methods: Our study was designed as a retrospective data analysis of 182 patients, 78 females and 104 males. In our study, patients were divided into four groups: patients with simple snoring with an Apnea-Hipopnea index (AHI) value below 5, patients with mild OSAS with an AHI value of 5–15, patients with moderate OSAS with an AHI value of 15–30 and patients with severe OSAS with an AHI value above 30. Measurements obtained from lateral cephalograms were compared between these groups. Results: Statistically significant narrowing was observed in all other groups compared to the control group in oropharyngeal width values in upper airway measurements (P<0.05). The distance between the hyoid and mandibular plane was significantly lower in the control group than in the severe OSAS group (P=0.001). A statistically significant elongation of the soft palate was also observed in patients with OSAS compared to the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings support that the position of the hyoid bone is important in the diagnosis of OSAS. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between soft palate length and OSAS. These results suggest that surgical techniques such as maxillary advancement or mandibular advancement, or both, to increase airway width may be effective in the treatment of OSAS.