The changes of upper airway of temporomandibular disorders patients with or without wearing stabilization splint: A cone-beam computed tomography study

This study analyzed the changes of upper airway in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) before and after wearing stabilization splint (SS). 26 patients with TMDs in the Department of Stomatology of the second hospital of Shandong University were selected. CBCT was taken before and after wearing SS, and images were imported into mimics 20.0 software. The changes of upper respiratory related indexes before and after wearing SS were measured and analyzed. Compared with not wearing the SS before treatment, the volume of oropharyngeal Cavity, total volume, area of retroepiglottic cross-sectional areas decreased, and SN-MP increased when wearing SS after the condyle position was stable after SS treatment (P < 0.05). The airway volume, retroepiglottic area ware decreased with wearing SS. It is suggested to reduce the thickness of SS when making SS to reduce the possibility of reducing the airway volume.