PHARYNGEAL AIRWAY VOLUME FOLLOWING ...

surgery, and this change appeared to be stable up to one
year following surgery.
Introduction
Combined orthodontic-orthognathic surgical treatment
has made it possible to treat skeletal and dental
dysplasias in patients where orthodontics alone cannot
produce a desirable result. By altering the position of
the jaws, the size and shape of the external and internal
surrounding soft tissues are affected, including the
pharyngeal airway, which could influence respiration. One
of the goals of orthognathic surgery is to maintain or
increase the size of the pharyngeal airway as not to
predispose a patient to obstructive sleep apnea. 1 For sleep
apnea patients, surgical advancement of both the maxilla
and mandible is often performed to intentionally increase
the size of the pharyngeal airway 2 to alleviate or reduce
symptoms of the disorder.
Obstructive sleep apnea is known to affect
approximately 2-4% of middle-age adult women and men,
respectively. 3 Risk factors include smoking, excessive
alcohol consumption, snoring, obesity, 4 and increased neck
circumference. 5 When compared to normal controls, apneic
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