Maxillary lateral incisor of subjects with cleft lip and/or palate: Part 1

As a pilot study, dental casts of 30 patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate were selected and examined from the longitudinal data in the Department of Orthodontics, Kyushu University Dental Hospital. Dental casts of the anterior teeth were sectioned at right angles to the long axis of the tooth 2 to 3 mm below the incisal edge. The teeth were differentiated according to their cross sections. They were classed as lateral incisors or other types by the ratio of labiolingual diameter to mesiodistal diameter and the flatness labiolingually. Dental casts of 309 additional patients with cleft alveolus were examined subjectively based on above findings. In primary dentition, 183 of 184 teeth on the cleft side were incisal type. One tooth was canine type. In permanent dentition, 42 of 78 teeth on the cleft side were conical type, 20 teeth were intermediate type, and 16 teeth were incisal type. As a conclusion, the tooth on the cleft side is almost certain to be a lateral incisor, not a supernumerary canine tooth. As well, their form was normal in the majority of the primary dentition, but malformed in the permanent one.