This study examined features of dental occlusion in patients born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP). The intention was to develop a 'Goslon type' index for 5 year old children. The Goslon ranking system was used on longitudinal study models taken at 5 and 10 years of age of the same patients. All patients had UCLP and this had been repaired using a Millard type lip repair and a Veau Wardill or Von Langenbeck palatal closure. There was good intra-examiner agreement for ascribing 5 and 10 year old models to one of five categories (excellent-very poor). Inter-examiner agreement on both sets of models was at worst moderate. Two of the examiners identified up to 93 per cent of 5 year old models which either remained in the same category or deteriorated by 10 years of age. At worse the results demonstrated 70 per cent of cases of 5 years of age remained in the same category or deteriorated by 10 years of age. Consensus agreement has produced five categories of outcome for these 5 year old models. This new index is to be subjected to further validation. This study has therefore provided, for the first time, a mechanism for assessing the results of CLP surgery earlier than indices already available.
Palate repair inhibits the forward displacement of the basal maxilla and anteroposterior development of the maxillary dentoalveolus in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate. Palate repair has no detrimental effects on the downward displacement of the basal maxilla or on palatal remodeling in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate.
One hundred and forty-nine dental casts of subjects with complete unilateral clefts of the lip and palate from six European cleft palate centers were assessed by means of the Goslon Yardstick. The Yardstick proved capable of discriminating between the quality of the dental arch relationships between the six centers. Two centers showed especially poor results. Three centers obtained satisfactory results although differing surgical techniques were used in these centers. One of the centers showing satisfactory dental arch relationships employed a more complex and expensive treatment program than the other two centers, which both used simpler centralized treatment regimens.
Delayed hard palate closure as practiced in Goteborg since 1979 has produced the best GOSLON Yardstick ratings in a consecutive series of patients ever recorded worldwide, since the Yardstick was first used in 1983. However, it is noteworthy that a new protocol has been introduced in Goteborg since 1994, in which hard palate closure is done at 3 years due to concerns regarding speech.
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