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Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Method of Studying Palatal Fusion using Static Organ Culture
Published on: September 19, 2015
Long-term Outcome for Two-Stage Palatal Closure With Different Timings for Hard Palate Surgery: Craniofacial Growth
Midia Najar Chalien1,2, Hans Mark3, Jan Lilja3
1Clinic of Orthodontics, Public Dental Service, Region Västra Götaland, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Objective:
The aim was to evaluate dental arch relation and craniofacial growth for individuals born with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), who had two-stage palatal surgery, with hard palate closure (HPC) at the ages of 3 or 8 years.
Design:
Longitudinal cohort study.
Setting:
Ceft lip and palate team in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Patients:
The inclusion criteria were nonsyndromic individuals born with complete UCLP who were consecutively operated according to two different surgical protocols; soft palate closure at 6 months followed by hard palate closure at the age of 3 years (HPC3) or at the age of 8 years (HPC8). In this evaluation, 28 individuals had HPC3 and 59 individuals had HPC8.
Internventions:
The main outcome, longitudinal series of dental casts and lateral radiographs from the ages of 5, 10, 16, and 19 years, were evaluated using GOSLON Yardstick and cephalometric analysis.
Results:
At the age of 10 years, 78% of the individuals with HPC3 demonstrated GOSLON scores of 1 and 2 and 86% in HPC8. At the age of 19 years, 54% of the individuals exhibited GOSLON scores of 1or 2 when compared with 74% in HPC8. A statistical significant difference for SNA was observed at the age of 5 years (P = .004), with a lower SNA in HPC3, but not at the ages of 10, 16 and 19 years. At the final age, SNA was 75.2° for HPC3 and 76.8° for HPC8.
Conclusions:
The decrease in age for HPC did not have an adverse effect on long-term dental arch relationship or craniofacial growth.
