Spontaneous narrowing of the palatal cleft during the first year of life: a quantitative study.

In 44 clefts of the hard palate the relative size of the cleft, as a percentage of the total palatal area, decreased by an average of 7% between the ages of 3 and 17 months. The relative size of the cleft at the second examination was only 52% of that at the first evaluation. The length of the cleft (per cent of the palatoalveolar length) shortened by 7%. The palatal height increased by 2.2 mm in this group and by 2.4 mm in a control group (23) with only minor posterior clefts. The spontaneous narrowing, most evident in wide anterior clefts, seems to be primarily due to actual growth, and not to bending or collapse. This phenomenon should be taken into consideration in the choice of the optimum age for surgery, which, in selected cases, should not take place before the age of one year.