Sagittal position of the left and right maxillary segment in children with cleft lip and palate.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the present study was to investigate left-right differences in the sagittal position of the maxillary segments in children with cleft lip and palate.

METHOD: The sample consisted of children with operated cleft lip or cleft lip and alveolus [CL/CLA (n = 16) mean age, 9.3 yr], operated unilateral cleft lip and palate [UCLP (n = 27) mean age, 9.1 yr], and operated bilateral cleft lip and palate [BCLP (n = 17) mean age, 9.5 yr]. Computed tomography (CT) horizontal slices of the maxilla were obtained and used to determine the sagittal position of the left and right segment of the maxilla in relation to the mandibular rami and the cranial base. Significant effects were analyzed with multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA).

RESULTS AND

CONCLUSIONS

It was concluded that, in contrast to children having CL/CLA or UCLP, children with BCLP showed left-right differences in the sagittal position of the maxillary segments. The segment on the left side was more posteriorly positioned compared to the right side. Because the same results were obtained in relation to the mandibular rami as well as in relation to the cranial base, it can be assumed that the position of these rami are not affected by the different types of oral clefts.