Upper airway imaging techniques can be useful to identify the exact location and nature of the obstruction in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. Ten OSA patients and 10 non-OSA control subjects were imaged using cone-beam computed tomography (NewTom QR-DVT9000) to compare their upper airway structure. The OSA subjects presented higher BMI (OSA: 29.5 +/- 9.05 kg/m(2); non-OSA: 23.1 +/- 3.05 kg/m(2) [P = .034]), lower total volume (mm(3)) of the airway (OSA: 4868.4 +/- 1863.9; non-OSA: 6051.7 +/- 1756.4 [P = .054]), statistically significantly smaller anterior-posterior dimension (mm) of the minimum cross-section segment (OSA: 4.6 +/- 1.2; non-OSA: 7.8 +/- 3.31 [P = .009]), and smaller minimum cross-section area (OSA: 45.8+/-17.5 mm(2); non-OSA: 146.9 +/- 111.7 mm(2) [P = .011]) positioned below the occlusal plane in 70% of the cases (OSA:7 out of 10; non-OSA: 5 out of 10 [P = .030]). The OSA group presented a concave or elliptic shaped airway and the non-OSA group presented a concave, round, or square shaped airway.