Longitudinal dental maturation of children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate: A case-control cohort study

Many reports suggest that children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) have delayed dental development and asymmetrical timing of tooth-pair formation. We aimed to investigate the dental maturation of permanent teeth in children with complete unilateral CLP (UCLP) and compare the findings with non-CLP children.

This case-control study used 115 radiographs of children with complete UCLP and controls (non-CLP children matched on age, gender and ethnicity) from a hospital-based dental clinic in Singapore.

Orthopantomographs of 60 children with complete UCLP (5-9 years old) and 55 children (9-13 years old) from the same cohort were investigated using the Demirjian's method and compared with controls to determine if there were any differences in dental maturation with age.

Delayed dental maturation was found in the 5- to 9-year-old children with UCLP compared to controls by 0.55 years (standard deviation: 0.75) (P<.001). There was no significant difference between the dental maturation of children with UCLP and controls in the 9- to 13-year-old group (P=.744). The group with UCLP had higher risk of asymmetrically developing tooth pairs than the control group for both age groups (P<.001).

No difference in dental maturation between UCLP and controls in the 9- to 13-year-old group was found. However, there was diametrical difference in dental maturation in the 5- to 9-year-old group, which attenuated as they grew older. There was a consistently higher risk of asymmetrical tooth formation in children with UCLP than in controls.