Dear editor

We thank Dr Trenouth for his letter. Our article was to review the skeletal and dental effects of headgear and it was not possible to include information on any proposed link with airway problems.

We note that Dr Trenouth fails to present a balanced view by not including the article by Kirjavainen and Kirjavainen which found that ‘Cervical headgear treatment increases retropalatal airway space but does not significantly affect the rest of the oropharynx or hypopharynx in children with Class II malocclusion without retrognathia.’¹ Furthermore, the first two references Dr Trenouth quotes are letters submitted to the British Dental Journal and are therefore not peer-reviewed publications.