EVALUATION OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAXILLARY SINUS PATHOLOGIES AND OSTIUM DIMENSION: A RETROSPECTIVE CONE BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY STUDY

Objective: Maxillary sinus ostium is the top section of the medial wall the and is hence poorly placed from the point of view of free drainage; it opens into the narrow ethmoidal infundibulum, inflammation of which can further break drainage, so this may cause in the development of chronic maxillary sinusitis. This study aims to evaluate maxillary sinus pathologies (MSP) and their possible relation with maxillary sinus ostium dimensions. Material and Methods: Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) scans which belong to 139 patients (52 male and 87 female) were retrospectively evaluated with regard to ostium dimensions and the presence of MSP including retention cyst and mucosal thickening. Independent Samples t-test and Pearson Chi-Square were used to for statistical analysis. Results: No statistically significant difference was observed between patients with and without MSP in terms of ostium width (p=0.13). While the mean ostium width was 2.08 mm in the patient with MSP it was measured as 2.14 mm in patients without MSP. For all patients examined, right and left ostiums mean widths were 1.97 mm (Range 0.67-4.25) and 2.26 mm (Range 0.67-5.25), respectively. No significant difference was observed in ostium width according to gender (p≥0.05). Among all patients, 18.7% (n=26) had MSP; of these 10 were bilateral and 16 were unilateral. Conclusion: MSP is the common finding in CBCT examinations and the results of this study showed that MSP does not seem to be associated with the ostium width