ASSOCIATION OF OROFACIAL FEATURES OF beta-THALASSEMIA MAJOR PATIENTS

BACKGROUND Patients with beta-thalassemia major or Cooley's anaemia will have severe anaemia, which triggers several defence mechanisms in the body, the most significant of which is the expansion of bone marrow. This expansion of bone marrow in turn forces the bones to expand, produces deformities of the skull and face bones. The purpose of this study was to find out the relationship between different orofacial parameters of labio-oral region in patients with beta-thalassemia major and to identify differences by comparing them with age and sex matched controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS A case-control study was carried out in 400 study participants (200 cases and 200 controls). Mouth breadth (ch-ch), Height of integumental lips (ls-li) and Height of the total upper lip (sn-sto) of all the study participants were measured. RESULTS All the measurements used in the present study except height of integumental lips were found significantly associated in sex-wise subgroups as well as in overall study group. CONCLUSION The result of the present study increased our knowledge about orofacial anatomy of beta-thalassemia major patients and enabled us to achieve quantitative results.