Abnormalities of Maxillary Anterior Teeth in Chinese Children with Cleft Lip and Palate

Abstract

Objective: To retrospectively study the anterior maxilla of southern Chinese children with complete cleft lip and palate (CLP) for the prevalence of different kinds of dental anomalies, position and rotation of the teeth, and the asymmetry of dental development. Patients: 195 southern Chinese children with CLP aged between 3 and 17 years. Methods and Materials: Dental records and study casts were studied as were the radiographs from which the dental development was determined. Results: The tooth prevalence of cleft side permanent lateral incisor was 19.2% in unilateral CLP (UCLP) children and 20.5% in bilateral CLP (BCLP) children. The cleft side central incisors were rotated in 78.1% and 95.9% of the teeth in UCLP and BCLP children, respectively. Of the permanent canines, 43.4% were positioned mesially on the cleft side in UCLP children, while for BCLP children 69.7% of the teeth were in a normal position. In addition, the mesially positioned canines were often associated with an absence of the permanent lateral incisor while the distally positioned canines were always associated with the presence of supernumeraries in the cleft region. The permanent teeth on the cleft side showed significantly delayed development compared with their antimeres on the noncleft side; however, the delayed permanent lateral incisors did complete their formation normally. Conclusion: This group of Chinese children with CLP demonstrated statistically significant higher prevalences of hypodontia, microdontia, and delayed dental development on the cleft side than the noncleft side.