Background: The purpose of this study was to identify the particular cranio-facial pattern observed in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and to search for possible correlations between morphological anomalies and disease severity.
Material and methods: The study group included 49 dentate patients, mean age 47.7 years suffering from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Most of the patients were overweight.
Results: Typical features observed in these patients were a short craniospinal field, a retro-maxillary, a retro-mandibula, antero-inferior vertical excess of the face, and class II malocclusion. No correlation between severity of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and craniofacial morphology could be identified.
Discussion: These results are in agreement with data in the literature. The absence of a morphological correlation appears to be related to the type of patients studied (overweight). Indeed, two categories of sleep apnea patients have been identified: obese patients who have few or no anomalies of the facial skeleton and thin patients with characteristic open bite class II malocclusion.