ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were to establish the normative data for the upper airway dimensions and tongue size; hyoid position and to evaluate the cervico-craniofacial skeletal morphology of the anatomical differences between sexes in healthy subjects. The upper airways of 50 male and 53 female healthy volunteers were retrospectively evaluated by lateral skull radiographs. Anatomical pharyngeal linear measurements and craniocervical postural relationships were analyzed. To set-up the reference values for cervico-craniofacial skeletal morphology of the healthy subjects, the craniovertical, craniocervical, cervicohorizontal postural relationships and the curvature of the cervical column were also analyzed. Cephalometric measurments of healthy male individuals showed statistically greater values in all sagittal pharyngeal structural dimensions when compared with healthy female subjects, with the exception of the craniocervical angulations related to head posture.