Longitudinal study on the changes of maxillary arch dimensions in Japanese children with cleft lip and/or palate: infancy to 4 years of age.

The focus of this study was an analysis of maxillary arch growth changes prior to the time of cheiloplasty up to 4 years of age. Serial dental casts were obtained and measured in 95 children with cleft lip and palate, or both: 7 unilateral cleft lip and alveolus (CLA), 52 unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), 24 bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP), and 12 isolated cleft palate (CP). The children were treated at the Kyushu University Dental Hospital. The results are as follows: (1) Prior to cheiloplasty, the maxillary buccal segments in the subjects with cleft lip and palate showed lateral displacement. The premaxilla in BCLP subjects was protruded. (2) Cheiloplasty influenced maxillary anterior arch width, but not posterior width. The operation caused posterior displacement of the premaxilla in BCLP subjects. (3) Palatoplasty affected the growth of the maxillary arch in the transverse and anteroposterior dimensions. (4) A variety of growth patterns observed in the patients (e.g., increasing or decreasing of the maxillary arch dimensions) suggests that maxillary arch dimensions were affected not only by surgery, but also by other individual factors such as genetic facial pattern and severity of the cleft.