A New Old Way to Look at Airway Assessment

Abstract

Imagine performing an oral endotracheal intubation with the tongue totally absent from your line of sight of the laryngeal anatomy, including the glottis. The addition of the Angle's Classification of Malocclusion, a tool some may call archaic, should be added alongside airway assessment tools that dental surgeons and nurse anesthesiologists commonly use, such as the Mallampati Classification (or Mallampati Score), Thyromental Distance (TMD), Neck Range of Motion, Size of the Tongue, and Interincisor Distance, also called Intermaxillary Distance.

Keywords: Anesthesiology; Angle's classification of malocclusion; cephalometric; orthognathic; prognathic; retrognathic.