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Delayed dental development in children with isolated cleft lip and palate
1Department of Orthodontics, College of Dentistry, University of Tennessee, Memphis 38163.
Archives of Oral Biology
|January 1, 1990
Summary
Children with isolated cleft lip and palate show delayed growth and smaller final size, with dental development issues like missing teeth and delayed dental age. These findings suggest an adverse early postnatal environment impacts growth more than intrinsic factors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dentistry
- Craniofacial Development
- Genetics and Developmental Biology
Background:
- Isolated cleft lip and palate (CLP) can be associated with growth disturbances.
- Children with CLP often exhibit delayed growth and reduced final stature.
- Understanding dental development in CLP is crucial for predicting long-term outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate dental development in permanent teeth of children with isolated cleft lip and palate.
- To assess the prevalence of congenital tooth absence, developmental asymmetry, and dental age in CLP patients.
- To determine the influence of the early postnatal environment versus intrinsic factors on growth in CLP.
Main Methods:
- Assessment of permanent dentition in children with isolated cleft lip and palate, focusing on teeth distant from the cleft site.
- Evaluation of three key variables: congenital tooth absence by type, asymmetry in developmental tooth staging, and dental age.
- Comparison of dental development metrics between CLP patients and a control group.
Main Results:
- Congenital absence of permanent teeth ranged from 0% to 7% across tooth types in CLP patients.
- Asymmetry in developmental tooth staging was three times more frequent in CLP patients compared to controls.
- Dental age was, on average, delayed by 0.9 years in CLP patients relative to controls, with greater delays observed in teeth forming during infancy.
Conclusions:
- Children with isolated cleft lip and palate demonstrate significant disruptions in dental development, including tooth agenesis, developmental asymmetry, and delayed dental age.
- The observed dental development deficits are most pronounced in teeth developing during infancy, suggesting a critical impact of the early postnatal environment.
- These findings support the hypothesis that an adverse early postnatal environment, rather than intrinsic genetic factors, is the primary driver of compromised growth and development in individuals with isolated cleft lip and palate.