Dental development in patients with and without unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP): a case control study

Objective To evaluate if the presence of unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) causes delay in dental age and tooth development. Materials and methods Panoramic radiographs of 189 non-syndromic UCLP patients, aged from 6 to 20 years, were collected. Two measures of tooth development were examined: dental maturity scale for the seven left mandibular teeth (dental age-DA) and the degree of each tooth development (developmental score-DS). All the teeth except third molars were staged according to the Demirjian's method. The data of the cleft group were compared with a control group matched for age and gender, based on the findings observed in other 189 panoramic radiographs. Results At all ages, DA was lower in the UCLP group, but not always significantly; the highest difference was - 1.411 for females at 13 years old and - 0.776 for males at 12 years old. DS of all teeth was significantly lower in the UCLP group, at all ages under 17 in females, and at all ages under 18 in males. In UCLP group, tooth development was more delayed in the maxilla compared with the mandible. No evidence of a slower development at the cleft side compared with the non-cleft side was highlighted. Conclusions Significant lower dental development was observed in UCLP patients compared with control ones by using DS and DA indexes.

Automated summary

The study found that dental development in unilateral cleft lip and palate patients was more delayed compared to the control group, with females showing the most significant delay under 13 years old and males under 12 years old. In the cleft group, tooth development in the maxilla was more delayed than in the mandible, but there was no evidence of slower development on the affected side compared to the non-affected side.