The Orthodontic Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea : A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is considered to be a real public health problem, often unrecognized or underdiagnosed, requiring multidisciplinary care including orthodontics that plays an essential role in the screening and the management of ventilation. Objective: The aim of our study is to explain the important place of orthodontic therapies, whether orthopedic or surgical, in the multidisciplinary management of OSA and in the improvement of nasal breathing through a systematic review. Material and methods: A search of the literature was performed in the following databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library . The search was limited to publications written in English and French from 2010 to January 2022. Results: On the basis of the keywords, eighty-three references were initially identified. After the elimination of duplicates, the number of articles was reduced to seventy-nine. The study of the titles and abstracts made it possible to select fifty articles. After reading the full text, sixteen publications were included in this systematic review. Eight studies have investigated rapid maxillary expansion (RME), five studies have evaluated the effect of mandibular advancement (MA) and three studies have investigated the effect of genioplasty in children with OSA. Conclusion: Orthodontic arsenal, whether orthopedic, orthodontic, or surgical correction of jaws, is well suited and extremely beneficial for OSA treatment.