Prevalence of oral defects among neonatally intubated 3- to 5- and 7- to 10-year old children.

Greater prevalence of oral abnormalities was found in two groups of children (ages 3 to 5 and 7 to 10 years) who had been intubated neonatally and were of low birth-weight than in same-aged children of average birth-weight who had not been intubated at birth. These abnormalities included enamel defects, high vaulted and/or grooved palates, posterior crossbites, and palatal asymmetry. In addition, these children were judged to have poorer speech intelligibility and greater speech nasality than the comparison group children. Prematurity and intubation were confounded in this study, allowing the possibility that prematurity alone is the causal factor in these differential results. However, the finding of localized enamel defects among intubated 3- to 5-year-olds, and greater prevalence of high vaulted palates and palatal grooving among intubated subjects in both age groups, provide strong support for intubation as a cause of both the occurrence and duration of oral defects among neonatally intubated children.