Review suggests that cleft lip and palate patients have more caries

The Cochrane library, Medline, Embase, CINAHL and Scopus databases were searched.

Cross-sectional or longitudinal studies evaluating caries prevalence in CLP patients against a suitable matched control were included.

Study selection, data extraction and quality assessment were carried out independently by two reviewers. Meta-analysis was carried out using a random effects model.

Seven studies (total 474 patients) met the inclusion criteria. All of the studies were cross-sectional in nature, and used the decayed, missing and filled (DMF/dmf) indices as the final outcomes. Five studies involving permanent teeth suggested that CLP patients have a higher number of DMF teeth than the controls (mean difference 1.38; p = 0.003). Four studies of primary teeth suggest that CLP patients have a higher number of dmf teeth than the controls (mean difference 1.51; p = 0.03).

Individuals with CLP, when compared with matched non-CLP controls, tend to have a higher prevalence of dental caries, as detected using the decayed, missing and filled index. This holds true both for permanent and for deciduous teeth. One must keep in mind, however, that relatively few studies were included in the present meta-analysis, and the reporting on the methods in the individual studies was not always transparent.