LAUSR

SUMMAR Y: Enlarged palatine tonsils and adenoids are thought to cause obstruction of the upper airway, triggering changes in breathing patterns, which in turn lead to dentofacial alterations, including malocclusions. The object of the present study was to correl te the size (grade) of the palatine tonsil with measurements of the maxillary and mandibular dental arches in children. This was an ob servational cross-sectional study carried out in 35 children aged between 6 and 11 years. The interand intra-arch parameters were measure d (horizontal, vertical and sagittal analyses) by making plastercasts and then taking measurements with callipers. The tonsil size was classif ied in 5 grades from 0-4, using the Brodsky tonsil grading scale. The researcher was calibrated prior to carrying out the measurements. Pearson 's chi-squared test was used and Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated. The SPSS v.22.0 software was used, with a significance thre shold of 5 %. Six patients were classified as grade 1, sixteen grade 2, eleven grade 3, two grade 4 and none of the patients presented grade 0. A low positive association was found between tonsil grade and the total length of the mandibular arch, a very low positive association between tonsil grade and maxillary inter-first premolar distance, total length of the maxillary arch and depth of the palatine recess. A very low ne gative association was found for tonsil grade and overjet, overbite, mandibular inter-permanent first molar distance, mandibular inter-first premo lar distance, and mandibular and maxillary intercanine widths. No statistically significant correlation was observed for any of the measureme nts. No association was found between the tonsil grade and Angle's Classification, canine relationship, overjet and overbite. According to the results of this study there is no significant correlation between the dental arches and the tonsil grade.