Comparative Analysis of Oropharyngeal Airway Changes: Xbow versus Forsus Appliances – A Retrospective Study

Document Type : Original articles

Authors

1 Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

2 Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Egypt

Abstract

Aim: This retrospective study aims to estimate the oropharyngeal airway space changes following ‎treatment with the Xbow appliance and compare it with Forsus appliance.‎
Materials and Methods: This study involved pre- and post-treatment lateral cephalometrics of ‎‎63 adolescent patients with Class II mandibular retrognathism malocclusion, separated into three ‎distinct groups; Group I: 21 patients (15 girls, 6 boys, mean age: 13±2.4) treated with Xbow, ‎Group II: 21 patients (13 girls, 8 boys, mean age: 12±3.1) treated with Forsus, and Group III: 21 ‎untreated class II patients (12 girls, 9 boys, mean age: 13±1.8) received no orthodontic treatment ‎as control. Changes in lower and upper airway thickness, lower and upper adenoid thickness, ‎lower and upper pharynx dimension were then analyzed. ‎
Results: The airway dimensions improved significantly with Xbow and Forsus compared to the ‎control group. Xbow significantly improved all parameters except the lower pharynx dimension, ‎which showed no significant changes across the groups (p = 0.357). Forsus showed significant ‎alteration in all parameters except the lower airway thickness (p= 0.407). Xbow significantly ‎increase the lower and upper airway thickness compared to Forsus and control groups (p < ‎‎0.001).‎
Conclusion: Both Xbow and Forsus treatments yielded positive results in enhancing ‎oropharyngeal airway dimensions in class II patients, with the Xbow treatment showing a more ‎pronounced impact on both lower and upper airway thickness measurements.‎

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