Hypoplasia and hypodontia in Van der Woude syndrome

The purpose of this study was (1) to assess maxillary development in cleft individuals with Van der Woude syndrome (VWS) and (2) to compare hypodontia in VWS and nonsyndromic cleft matched controls.

Retrospective case-control study from the Center for Craniofacial Anomalies, University of California, San Francisco, California.

The sample consisted of 15 individuals with Van der Woude syndrome and 15 nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate controls paired for age, gender, and cleft type in the age range of 5 to 13 years.

Cephalograms were digitized, and 31 linear and angular measurements were made. Serial panoramic radiographs were used to assess the presence or absence of permanent teeth.

The maxillary sagittal position represented by midface length (Co-A) was significantly shorter in the Van der Woude syndrome subjects than in the matched controls (p = .031), suggesting a trend towards greater maxillary hypoplasia, particularly in Van der Woude syndrome with bilateral cleft lip and/ or palate. Measurements indicating sagittal jaw relationship (ANB angle and the Wits) were significantly smaller in the children with Van der Woude syndrome than in matched controls (p = .008 and p = .006). A significantly larger number of individuals with Van der Woude syndrome than matched controls had missing teeth (p = .014). The mandibular second premolar was missing more frequently in children with Van der Woude syndrome than in the matched controls (p = .031). The differences concerning both maxillary hypoplasia and hypodontia were most marked in the more severe cleft type, represented by bilateral cleft lip and/or palate.

Based on these findings, the expectation is that there will be maxillary hypoplasia and hypodontia of greater severity in Van der Woude syndrome than in nonsyndromic clefts.