Presurgical Unilateral Cleft Lip Anthropometrics and the Presence of Dental Anomalies

Abstract

Objective To investigate associations between cleft lip anthropometrics and dental anomalies in the permanent dentition in unilateral cleft lip patients. Design Retrospective cross-sectional study. Patients Children with unilateral clefts of the lip, with or without cleft palate. Methods Anthropometric lip measurements, made immediately prior to lip repair, were available for each patient. The presence of dental anomalies in the permanent dentition was assessed radiographically. The presence of associations between anthropometric lip measurements and prevalence rates of different dental anomalies were determined using logistic regression analyses. Results In the 122 included patients, the cleft lateral lip element was deficient in height in 80% and in transverse length in 84% of patients. Patients with more deficient cleft side lateral lip height and less deficient cleft side lateral lip transverse length were more likely to present with cleft side maxillary lateral incisor agenesis. On the other hand, patients with a less deficient cleft side lateral lip height and more deficient cleft side lateral lip transverse length were more likely to present with a cleft side supernumerary maxillary lateral incisor. When looking only at incomplete clefts, the cleft side lateral lip transverse length deficiency was more predictive of the presence of supernumerary maxillary lateral incisors (P= .030), while for complete clefts, the cleft side lateral lip height deficiency was more predictive of the presence of maxillary lateral incisor agenesis ( P = .035). Conclusions In patients with unilateral clefts, cleft lip anthropometrics have a predictive role in determining the occurrence of dental anomalies.