This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Airway Obstruction  • Congenital Anomalies of Head & Neck  • Pediatric Otolaryngology  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

William D. Clark, MD, DDS

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2005;131(10):916-918.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Hypothesis: The proper correction of pediatric upper airway obstruction may prevent dentofacial abnormalities.

BACKGROUND

The concept that obstruction from tonsillar and/or adenoidal hypertrophy adversely effects dentofacial development was put forth as early as the 1840s. More than 150 years have passed, and the issue continues to be controversial. A review of the current literature reveals both passionate support of and opposition to the hypothesis.

The dentofacial abnormalities that have been associated with chronic nasorespiratory obstruction are many.¹ Those most commonly cited are an elongated face, open-mouth posture, protrusive maxillary incisors, narrow maxillary arch, high-arched palate, and angle class II malocclusion. The term adenoid face encompasses most of these features. One way to restate the hypothesis would be that the term adenoid face describes an abnormality that is accurately named and appropriately correctable.

Figure appears in full text version. William D. Clark, MD, DDS

Contention of any proposed individual step in the sequence . . . [Full Text of this Article]

PRO

CON

BOTTOM LINE

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Author Affiliations: Wuesthoff Medical Center and Holmes Regional Medical Center, Melbourne, Fla; and Palm Bay Community Hospital, Palm Bay, Fla.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?