[Effect of Maxillary Expansion Combined with Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy on the Position of the Tongue of Children with Mouth Breathing]

This study aimed to investigate the change of the position of the tongue before and after combined treatment of maxillary expansion and orofacial myofunctional therapy in children with mouth-breathing and skeletal class Ⅱmalocclusion. A total of 30 children with skeletal class Ⅱ malocclusion and unobstructed upper airway were selected. The 30 children were divided into mouth-breathing group（=15） and nasal-breathing group（=15） and CBCT was taken. The images were measured by Invivo5 software. The measurement results of the tongue position of the two groups were analyzed by independent samples -test. 15 mouth-breathing children with skeletal class Ⅱ malocclusion were selected for maxillary expansion and orofacial myofunctional therapy. CBCT was taken before and after treatment, the measurements were analyzed by paired sample test with SPSS 27.0 software package. The measurement of the tongue position of the mouth-breathing and nasal-breathing groups were compared, the differences were statistically significant（<0.05）. The measurement of the tongue position showed significant difference after the combined treatment of maxillary expansion and orofacial myofunctional therapy in children with mouth-breathing and skeletal class Ⅱmalocclusion（<0.05）. Skeletal class Ⅱ malocclusion children with mouth-breathing have low tongue posture. The combined treatment of maxillary expansion and orofacial myofunctional therapy can change the position of the tongue.