Reliability of frontal sinus with that of maxillary sinus in assessment of different types of skeletal malocclusions

Introduction: Paranasal sinus plays an important role in the formation of facial contours.Therefore, knowledge of the development and size of the maxillary sinus and frontal sinus may be crucial for diagnosing and treating various classes of malocclusion.Aim: To evaluate the reliability of frontal sinus with that of maxillary sinus in the assessment of different types of skeletal malocclusions.Settings and Design: Sample consisted of lateral cephalograms of 240 patients with three different skeletal malocclusions.Material and Methods: The sample for the study consists of 240 patients (120 males and 120 females) with age of the subjects ranging from 16 to 25 years divided into skeletal Class I, II, and III on the basis of ANB angle (each 40 patients).Linear and angular cephalometric measurements were assessed and correlate with maxillary and frontal sinus size, which is obtained through AutoCAD program.Statistical Analysis: Pearson's correlation coefficient used.Results: The results show a significant correlation of frontal sinus with skeletal malocclusion (P < 0.05) as compared to the maxillary sinus.Conclusions: (1) Frontal sinus is more reliable as compared to maxillary sinus in depicting skeletal malocclusion.(2) Frontal sinus area larger in skeletal Class III malocclusion as compared to skeletal Class I and Class II malocclusion.(3) There is no significant variation in maxillary sinus area in males and females whereas frontal sinus shows significant variations in both males and females in different skeletal malocclusions.