Considerations on morphological abnormalities of permanent teeth in children with cleft lip and palate.

Oral clefts are commonly associated with dental anomalies of number, size, shape, structure, position and eruption affecting both dentitions. Dental malformations may affect the development, growth and functions of the dento-maxillary apparatus (chewing, aesthetics, speech). The purpose of this paper was to assess the dental morphological variations in a group of patients with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP), as compared with a group of healthy subjects. The study sample included 48 patients with various types of CLP (15 girls and 33 boys) aged between 12.6 years and 17.3 years. The control group (without CLP) consisted of 1447 patients (545 girls and 903 boys). The proportion of patients with dental shape anomalies in the control group was 8.6%, while the proportion of patients with dental shape anomalies in the CLP group was 56.3% (p<0.01). With this regards, the frontal area was more affected in CLP group than controls. The most common morphological abnormality in the control group was supplementary cusp, while in the CLP sample it was dilaceration. Teeth from the dental hemiarch affected by CLP were most affected in their morphology.