The Eurocleft study: Intercenter study of treatment outcome in patients with complete cleft lip and palate. Part 3: Dental arch relationships

Objective: To compare dental arch relationships up to age 17 in individuals with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) treated at five European centers. Design: Longitudinal cohort study, where results were previously reported at 9 years and follow-up measurements were obtained for 12 and 17 years. Setting: Multidisciplinary cleft services in Northern Europe. Subjects: 127 consecutively treated individuals with repaired UCLP. Main outcome measure: Panel rating of dental arch relationship. Results: The results revealed that at 17 years of age three of the centers had better ratings in dental arch relationship (means scores: 1.7, 1.9, and 2.2, respectively) than the other two centers (3.3, 3.4) at statistically significant levels (p <.01 to P <.001). Conclusion: The results confirm that systematic differences in dental arch relationships may occur between different cleft centers, but do not allow specific causal factors to be identified.