Nasal patency in mouth breathing children

ABSTRACT

Several studies have shown the importance of quantitative assessment in nasal patency and functional status of the upper airways to provide clinical and diagnostic information in oral breather individuals, which are of great interest to speech therapy. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of nasal saline solution irrigation on the upper airways through nasal aeration and active anterior rhinomanometry in oral breathing children. This was an eight case series study, carried out in children aged 7 to 10 years with an otorhinolaryngological clinical diagnosis of mouth breathing. The study consisted of three stages: (I) initial evaluation; (II) intervention; and (III) final evaluation. The questionnaires of the Index for the Identification of Oral Breathing Signs and Symptoms and disease-specific quality of life in pediatric patients with sinonasal complaints were applied, nasal aeration assessments and the anterior active rhinomanometry exam were carried out. The intervention was performed by irrigating nasal saline solution with 10ml. Afterwards, they were re-evaluated by nasal aeration evaluation and rhinomanometry to compare the results. Regarding nasal aeration and rhinomanometry evaluation, from the 16 comparative measurements between pre and post nasal irrigation, we obtained significant changes in nasal aeration and nasal resistance. Nasal irrigation resulted in improvement in nasal aeration measurements while nasal flow measurements from rhinomanometry remained unchanged considering pre and post nasal irrigation.

Keywords:
Mouth breathing; Respiratory function tests; Rhinomanometry; Airway resistance; Diagnostic techniques respiratory system