FREQUENCY AND TYPES OF DENTOFACIAL ABNORMALITIES AMONG CHILDREN WITH NASAL SEPTUM DEFORMATIONS

Abnormalities of dentofacial system in children and adolescents take one of the first places among the diseases of the dentofacial area. Dentofacial system disorders occur from 60% to 90 % of cases in comorbidities of other body systems, especially ENT pathologies. Respiratory dysfunction and mouth breathing as a result belong to the most important etiological factors of dental arch narrowing. Difficulty in nasal breathing or “nasal obstruction” is a leading syndrome in rhinology. Being a manifestation of different diseases, chronic nasal breathing difficulties can give rise to similar changes in the body regardless of their causes. Frequent chronic obstructive abnormalities of the nose and throat include nasal septum deformation, chronic sinusitis, chronic rhinitis, adenoids, hypertrophia of palatine tonsils and others. Pathologies that influence the development of nasofrontal appendices of upper jaw, front part of maxillary arch and upper nasal passages often cause dentofacial deformations. Such pathologies include allergic reaction of nasopharynx and adenoids, hypertrophia of palatine tonsils, choanal atresia, hypertrophic rhinitis, etc. There is a correlation between mouth breathing and jaw abnormalities. “Pure nasal septum deformation”, i.e. without other “obstructive” pathologies of nose and pharynx, was observed in 8 children (11.4 % of cases) out of 70 patients. Combined pathology leading to the nose and pharynx obstruction was found in other 62 cases (88.6 %). Thus, nasal septum deformation often combined with chronic purulent rhinosinusitis in 53 children (76 %), hypertrophia of palatine tonsils in 5 patients (7.1 %), adenoid vegetation in 8 cases (11.3 %) and hypertrophic rhinitis in 4 children (5.7 %). Chronic purulent maxilloethmoidal sinusitis prevailed among chronic rhinosinusitis. Appropriate surgeries were simultaneously performed in other obstructive pathologies. Therefore, the impact of nose septum deformation on the development of the child’s body as a whole and the dentofacial system in particular is still underexplored. There is still no consensus on the influence of the nasal septum deformation on the growth and development of the dentofacial system and the appearance of dentofacial abnormalities. Frequency, types and pathogenesis of dentofacial abnormalities in children with nasal septum deformation require proper investigation.?