Primary alveolar cleft bone grafting in unilateral cleft lip and palate: Craniofacial form at age 8

Counterpart analysis can be advantageous for the clinician interested in th e underlying determinants of the craniofacial form for any given person. Th is analysis was performed for a group of patients who underwent primary alv eolar cleft bone grafting (N = 18) and a group of patients who did not unde rgo grafting (N = 19) who were 8 years of age (+/-6 months). The primary gr afting group more frequently noted maxillary retrusion, but of a nonsignifi cant magnitude. Also, the primary grafting group had greater mean magnitude s of mandibular opening as a compensatory adjustment in some patients, but this could not be generalized to all patients who had underdone primary gra fting. The mean magnitude of craniofacial vertical shortening was also grea ter for some patients who had undergone primary grafting, but it, too, did not exhibit a generalized pattern for all patients who had undergone primar y alveolar cleft bone grafting procedures. This study emphasizes the great diversity of craniofacial skeletal adjustments made within each group of pa tients with unilateral cleft lip and palate and cautions the clinician agai nst generalizations concerning a particular treatment protocol.