THE EFFECT OF CLEFT-LIP REPAIR ON MAXILLARY MORPHOLOGY IN PATIENTS WITH UNILATERAL COMPLETE CLEFT-LIP AND PALATE

This study was performed to investigate the isolated effects of cleft lip repair on maxillary morphology in patients with complete unilatera l cleft lip and palate. We compared 10 adult patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate who had only lip repair in childhood and no palat al repair (group 1) with 30 adult patients with unilateral cleft lip a nd palate who had both their lip and palate repaired in childhood (gro up 2). Both groups of patients also were compared with 24 adult indivi duals who had normal occlusion and no cleft anomalies. Evaluation of l ateral cephalograms showed that both group 1 and group 2 had significa nt degrees of maxillary retrusion compared with normal individuals. Th e magnitude of maxillary retrusion was not increased by cleft palate r epair, and none of the cephalometric measurements were significantly d ifferent between groups 1 and 2.