Tomographic Assessment of Bone Formation After the Collares Technique of Gingivoperiosteoplasty in Patients With Cleft Lip and Palate.

OBJECTIVES

This cross-sectional study sought to assess bone formation and spontaneous tooth eruption in a cohort of 25 consecutive patients aged 6 to 11 years who underwent primary gingivoperiosteoplasty by the Collares technique.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study assessing bone formation in the cleft area using a within-group time series design.

SETTING

Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), a tertiary hospital in Brazil.

PATIENTS: Twenty-five patients with nonsyndromic, complete unilateral cleft lip and palate, no comorbidities, and unerupted permanent canines.

INTERVENTION: Cheiloplasty was performed by means of the Millard II technique, with the addition of a triangle at the mucocutaneous junction, vomer flap nasal floor closure, and wide subperiosteal elevation, followed by gingivoperiosteoplasty by the Collares technique.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cone-beam computed tomography was used to assess treatment effect. In a novel method, software was used to obtain two three-dimensional reconstructions, one each of the cleft and noncleft sides, enabling quantitative comparison of bone presence in the alveolar defect area.

RESULTS

Of the 25 patients, 24 achieved bone bridge formation. The cleft side had 75.1% (67.9%-82.3%) of the bone volume, 70.5% (53.1%-87.9%) of the height, and 63.3% (44.1%-82.5%) of the width of the noncleft side. Bone formation was 17.28% lower in patients with lateral incisor agenesis.

CONCLUSION

Collares gingivoperiosteoplasty performed well as a technique for alveolar repair in patients with cleft lip and palate, allowing spontaneous eruption of deciduous and permanent lateral incisors through the bone bridge created.