Photographs of Study Casts: An Alternative Medium for Rating Dental Arch Relationships in Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate

Abstract

Objective To investigate the reliability of using photographs of study casts as an alternative to casts for rating dental arch relationships. Design Repeated-measures study. Setting Cleft Palate Center of the University Medical Center Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Patients Records of children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) (n = 49) at the age of 9 years were included. Mean Outcome Measure(s) Statistics of intra- and interexaminer agreement. Results No significant differences were found between the rating of dental casts and photographs of dental casts, using the Goslon Yardstick. Conclusions Photographs of dental casts provide a consistent, reproducible method for rating dental arch relationships in patients with UCLP at the age of 9 years and provide a reliable alternative to the application of the Goslon Yardstick on dental casts.