Prevalence of cleft lip: A retrospective hospital based study

Abstract

Amongst the most frequent congenital birth defects are facial malformations, including cleft lips associated with or without cleft palate (CL/P) and cleft palate (CP). Although the incidence of such malformations worldwide is around 1.5 per 1,000 live births, the rate for CL/P ranges six-fold and for CP three-fold. The study aims to determine the prevalence and gender variations of isolated cleft lip among patients who have visited Saveetha Dental College and have undergone primary cleft lip repair procedure. A retrospective study was conducted and data collection was done from dental archives pertaining from June 2019 to April 2020. Data consisted of patients with isolated cleft lip who underwent primary cleft lip repair procedure. Data was imported to IBM SPSS Version 20 for statistical analysis. Results were tabulated. From this study, it has been observed that prevalence of isolated cleft lip is more among males (55.6%) compared to females (44.4%) and belonging to the age group 0 to 6 years. Millard's technique (rotation advancement technique) is the most commonly employed technique for primary cleft lip repair. Male predilection observed (statistically not significant). This study was conducted in a single centre – Saveetha Dental College. Extensive multi centre study with increased sample size is to be done.