Three-dimensional Digital Evaluation of Dental Arches in Infants with Cleft Lip and/or Palate

Abstract

The aim of this study was to measure and compare the dimensions of the dental arches on three-dimensional digital study models in children with and without cleft lip and palate before the primary surgery. The sample consisted of 223 digital models of children aged 3-9 months, divided into 5 groups: without craniofacial deformities, unilateral and bilateral incomplete cleft lip and alveolus, unilateral and bilateral complete cleft lip and alveolus, unilateral cleft lip and palate, and bilateral cleft lip and palate. Dental casts of the maxillary dental arches of the children were used. The dental casts underwent a process of scanning through 3D scanner and the measurements used for the correlation among groups were made on the scanned images. Statistical analysis was performed by t test and ANOVA followed by Tukey test. The results showed that the intercanine distance and anterior cleft width was wider in children with unilateral cleft lip and palate. The intertuberosity distances and posterior cleft width was wider in children with bilateral cleft lip and palate among the groups. Children with cleft lip and palate before the primary surgery had wider maxillary arch dimensions than the children without cleft lip and palate.