Abstract
Objective:
To determine whether palate height and maxillary arch depth are systematically related to the surgical center at which primary repair in unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) was carried out.
Design:
A retrospective comparison based on study casts of consecutive cases of UCLP obtained at age 9 years from six different centers. The observer who conducted measurements was blinded to the source of individual records.
Setting:
The patients whose records were analyzed received all their surgical care in a national health service setting in six different northern European centers and regions.
Patients:
Patients were consecutively treated Caucasian children with non-syndromic complete UCLP born in the period 1976 to 1979.
Main Outcome Measures:
The main outcome measures for the original study were craniofacial form, dental arch relationships, nasolabial appearance, and speech. This report focuses on measurements of anterior maxillary arch depth and palate height.
Results:
Anterior arch depth and anterior palate height showed some variation among the centers. There was a tendency for anterior arch depth and palate height to also be reduced at centers at which patients showed unfavorable dental arch relationships.
Conclusions:
Anterior arch depth and palate height might be considered in future studies of surgical outcome and in their possible relationship to problems of articulation.
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