RADIOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF SUBPERIOSTEAL PALATAL SOFT-TISSUE EXPANSION IN GROWING CATS

Palatal soft-tissue expansion might be appropriate for use in cleft pa late surgery. Seventy-five cats were divided into four different exper imental groups and one control group. Intraoral tissue expansion was s tarted at the age of 14 weeks in normal or scarred mucoperiosteum. The experiment lasted until 24 weeks of age. Serial standardized lateral cephalograms from each animal were digitized, and the results were sta tistically analyzed. The results indicate that the effects are indepen dent of the presence of scarred tissue, that sagittal growth is impair ed by tissue expansion, and that the tissue expander induced resorptio n of palatal bone.