Pharyngeal airway dimensional changes after premolar extraction in skeletal class II and class III orthodontic patients.

Objective: To assess and compare the changes in pharyngeal airway space dimensions following orthodontic treatment of skeletal class II and class III facial deformities with premolar extraction.

Materials And Methods: Sixty pre and posttreatment lateral cephalometric radiographs of patients who underwent fixed orthodontic treatment with premolar extraction were collected. The sample was divided into two groups - 32 patients with skeletal class II and 28 patients with skeletal class III malocclusion.