Rr. Hathaway et al., Primary alveolar cleft bone grafting in unilateral cleft lip and palate: Arch dimensions at age 8, J CRANIOF S, 10(1), 1999, pp. 58-67
The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether primary alveolar
cleft bone grafting in infants with unilateral cleft lip and palate (N = 17
) leads to less favorable dental arch dimensions at age 8 when compared wit
h other 8-year-old patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate who receiv
ed no alveolar bone grafting procedures (N = 49). Dental casts were obtaine
d for the primary grafted group, and arch lengths and widths were digitally
recorded with a reflex microscope. These arch dimensions were then compare
d with the reported data for a nongrafted group and a noncleft group of 8-y
ear-old children. The major findings were: 1) that the dental arches of bot
h cleft groups generally demonstrated a significant diminution in length an
d width (P < 0.05) compared with the noncleft groups, and 2) that the patie
nts who underwent primary alveolar cleft bone grafting showed no statistica
lly significant difference for any arch dimension (P < 0.05) when compared
with the nongrafted group lacking this additional surgical procedure.