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Dental materials for cleft palate repair
Faiza Sharif1, Ihtesham Ur Rehman2, Nawshad Muhammad3
1Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Kroto Research Institute, University of Sheffield, Broad Lane, Sheffield, UK; Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.
Dental materials show promise for repairing cleft lip and palate (CLP) defects, offering potential minimally invasive and cost-effective alternatives. While autologous implants remain preferred, research into synthetic biomedical grafts for CLP repair is advancing.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
- Regenerative Medicine
Background:
- Cleft lip and palate (CLP) defects necessitate bone and soft tissue grafting.
- Autogenous grafts are standard, but allogenic, xenogenic, and synthetic materials are explored for bone regeneration.
- Minimally invasive and cost-effective CLP repair treatments are in high demand.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the application of dental materials in surgical repair of cleft lip and palate (CLP) defects.
- To evaluate the efficacy of various natural and synthetic graft materials for alveolar and palatal cleft repair.
- To identify current and emerging bone and soft tissue replacement strategies for CLP defects.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of case studies, clinical trials, and retrospective studies.
- Inclusion of data on surgical interventions for alveolar or palatal cleft repair using natural or synthetic graft materials.
- Emphasis on studies with long-term clinical follow-up results.
Main Results:
- Dental and related biomedical materials show encouraging evidence for filling cleft defects.
- Various bone and soft tissue replacement strategies have been tested or explored for CLP repair.
- Limited data exists on the use of synthetic materials in cleft repair.
Conclusions:
- Dental and biomedical materials offer promising alternatives for CLP repair.
- Autologous implants are currently the preferred treatment method for cleft repair.
- Clinical trials on synthetic materials are ongoing, suggesting future advancements.
