Association between oral breathing and maxillary compression: a narrative review

Abstract

Introduction: Oral breathing is defined as the habit of breathing predominantly through the mouth as opposed to the nose, bypassing the natural filter of the nasal cavity and positioning the tongue in an altered way due to structural abnormalities, nasal obstructions, or respiratory syndromes. This habit leads to a lack of stimulation for the transverse development of the maxilla, causing a deep, cleft palate that lacks muscular resistance against the centripetal forces of the perioral musculature, due to an abnormal tongue position. Objectives: To determine the association between oral breathing and maxillary compression, and to evaluate whether the diagnostic methods used comply with standardized criteria. Materials and Methods: An electronic search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Elsevier, Epistemonikos, and Tripdatabase. The search included articles published between 2014 and 2025. Results: After analyzing the publications that met the proposed objectives, six articles were selected for data extraction and interpretation. Conclusions: Oral breathing and maxillary compression are directly associated as a result of the musculoskeletal imbalance between the tongue and hard palate due to a descended tongue position. However, there is no unified criterion for measuring maxillary compression, which prevents comparisons of diagnoses across different clinical studies.