Influence of tongue volume, oral cavity volume and their ratio on upper airway: A cone beam computed tomography study

Abstract

Background: Our study aimed to measure the tongue volume (TV), oral cavity volume (OCV), and their ratio (TV/OCV) and correlate with upper airway using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Method: The volume of oral cavity, tongue and upper airway were obtained by the manual process of segmentation of CBCT data of 15 subjects. The mean age of the sample was 21.86 years (range 15-33 years). Segmentation of the upper airway, tongue and oral cavity was performed manually using Mimics 11.0 (Materialise, Leuven, Belgium) software at different thresholds for air and the tongue. The Hounsfield units (HU) for airway volume of the different facial region ranged from −1024 to −500. For tongue volume, Hounsfield units (HU), ranging from −200 to 200 was calculated. Results: A significant negative correlation between TV/OCV and oropharynx (r = − 0.51; P = 0.04), TV/OCV and oral cavity airway volume (r = − 0.74; P = 0.002) was found. There was a significant and a positive correlation with TV/OCV and tongue volume (r = 0.65; P = 0.009). Conclusion: A significant negative correlation established between TV/OCV, oropharynx and oral cavity airway volume. This finding indicates an influence tongue volume, oral cavity volume and their ratio on patency of the oropharynx.

A dynamic in vitro oral mastication system to study the oral processing behavior of soft foods

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The effect of rapid maxillary expansion on the upper airway’s aerodynamic characteristics

“…To segment the 3D UA, one author (XF) orientated the CBCT image. An appropriate threshold was set from − 1024 to − 500 to involve the UA without defection [ 22 ], which was called a “mask”. The superior boundary was defined on the mask as perpendicular to the horizontal plane through the most posterior point of middle turbinate in the sagittal view; the inferior boundary was parallel to the horizontal plane through the most anterior–inferior point of cervical vertebra 4.…”

Tongue Contour Tracking and Segmentation in Lingual Ultrasound for Speech Recognition: A Review

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