Repair of alveolar cleft defects with autogenous bone grafting: periodontal evaluation

Twenty-six patients with cleft lip and palate (18 with unilateral and eight with bilateral clefts) with 34 canines that had erupted through grafted alveolar cleft defects were studied to evaluate their periodontal status. The results were compared with 58 canines erupted through a normal alveolus in 29 noncleft control patients. The overall periodontal status revealed a higher plaque index in the patients with cleft compared to the orthodontic control patients, but parameters of gingival index, probing depth, and attachment loss had no significant differences between these groups. The cleft-associated canines had more than 90 percent of their possible clinical attachment levels intact at the examination. This indicated that grafting of these alveolar cleft defects resulted in a clinically satisfactory periodontium to support these canines as they erupted through the osseous grafts for periods of at least 2 to 8 years following surgery.