Craniofacial development in children with unilateral cleft lip and palate

Craniofacial features of operated unilateral complete cleft lip and palate children: a case control study

“…There was only one comparative study regarding the facial morphology of 2 groups of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate Brazilian children 12 . The findings of the present study showed that patients undergoing cleft repair surgery during childhood have a jaw development decreased compared to patients without cleft, corroborating other studies conducted in children and adults 1,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] . Regarding the interaction age x cleft, the results were similar to those found by Gomide et al 16 who observed that retrusion of the maxilla is common feature of Brazilian individuals with cleft lip and palate in both genders, becoming more noticeable with advancing age in the pre and post-puberty [19][20][21] .…”

“…Some studies 1,6,16,[23][24] reported that the jaw of patients with cleft lip and palate who were operated on during childhood present similar behavior to the jaw since the early mixed dentition, which was also verified in this study. Silva Filho et al 6 observed that the jaw structure is changed in all sorts of cleft, and that, in the fissures involving the palate, retrognathia in adult patients is always present.…”

“…The occurrence of Class II skeletal patterns at 6 and 8 years and Class I at 7 and 9 years can be explained by the fact that the pubertal growth spurt has not yet occurred; this way, the jaw had not yet reached its final position. According Meazinni et al 20 and Holst et al 21 , from the pubertal growth spurt, the mandible shows a progressive development to earlier as the retrusion of the maxilla becomes more evident with advancing age [19][20][21] leading to a Class III skeletal relationship in adulthood 1,14,15,[19][20][21] .…”

“…This finding is consistent with the findings of Zemann et al 23 who observed the same growth pattern in patients with 6 years of age. However, some authors 16,18,24 have found a Class I skeletal relationship in various age groups and others 1,8,[14][15][16]18,[20][21]24 have found a Class III skeletal pattern post-pubertal growth.…”

“…The cleft lip and palate are the most common congenital facial malformations in newborns [1][2] . These changes can be divided into distinct groups: cleft lip, cleft lip and palate and cleft palate [2][3] .…”