Oral Habits in Children With Orofacial Clefts: A Comparative Study

Children with cleft lip and palate present with a wide range of dental and occlusal anomalies as a result of the cleft defect. These patients also present with oral habits which may affect their quality of life. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of oral habits in these children, with children without orofacial clefts.

This was a cross-sectional comparative study comparing children with repaired cleft lip and/or palate aged 3 to 12 years, with children without orofacial clefts. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the institutional review boards of both centers. Data collection was via interviewer administered questionnaires given to the parents/guardians of the children in each group. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS version 23. The level of significance was set at P < .05.

A total of 107 respondents participated in the study, comprising 53 children with repaired cleft lip and/or palate 54 children without orofacial clefts. The mean age for the children with Cleft lip and/or palate/ was 6.81 (standard deviation [SD] 1.898) years, while that for the control group was 7.78 (SD 1.68) years. Two oral habits recorded a significantly higher prevalence (P < .05) in the children with repaired clefts as compared to controls and these were lip sucking and bruxism. No significant difference in prevalence was recorded for all the other oral habits surveyed.

A significantly higher prevalence (P < .05) was observed in lip sucking and bruxism among children with cleft lip and palate, as compared to the children without orofacial clefts.