PURPOSE: To verify and compare the orofacial measurements and proportions of children with nasal breathing, obstructive mouth breathing and habitual mouth breathing, with mixed dentition. METHODS: Fifty-seven children, 32 girls and 25 boys, caucasian, with ages varying from seven years and five months to 11 years and ten months, participated in this study. The participants carried out a Speech-Language Pathology screening and an otolaryngological evaluation, in order to diagnose the breathing mode and the mouth breathing etiology. Based on the evaluations, the children were classified into three groups: 15 nasal breathers; 22 obstructive mouth breathers; and 20 habitual mouth breathers. The orofacial anthropometric evaluation was carried out using a digital caliper. The measurements and orofacial proportions of each group were described and then statistically compared, with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: No differences were observed between anthropometric measurements and orofacial proportions of nasal and mouth breathers (of both obstructive and habitual etiologies). CONCLUSION: The results obtained suggest that breathing mode and the different etiologies of mouth breathing do not determine differences in the orofacial measurements and proportions in children during the mixed dentition period.
Mouth breathing; Child; Anthropometry; Face; Dentition, mixed
