A six-year follow-up study of 155 children with cleft lip and palate

A total of 155 consecutive cases from three "Six-year-old follow-up clinics" have been reviewed to assess the speech results in boys and girls with cleft lip and palate belonging to Group II (complete labio-palatal clefts) and Group III (varying degrees of posterior median clefts of the palate). Clinical examination and assessment of speech was supplemented by X-ray-video assessment and the findings showed a good degree of correlation. The speech results between Group II and III and between the sexes are compared. Finally the extent of bone formation in the alveolar cleft was studied radiologically in 61 children with Group II clefts. Bone formation was present in 43 children, in 38 of whom a tooth had migrated into bone.