A cephalometric and dental analysis of treatment outcomes of unilateral cleft lip and palate children treated at the Red Cross children's hospital

Abstract

This study was a cephalometric and dental investigation of the treatment outcomes of UCLP children treated at the Red Cross Children's Hospital (RCCH) with respect to craniofacial morphology and dental arch relationship. The quality of the outcome for the RCCH group was compared with the outcomes reported for the Six-Centre International Study (Melsted et al., 1992; Mars et al., 1992). The sample consisted of 20 (11 females, 9 males) consecutively treated UCLP children who had cephalometric and dental records taken between the ages of8 to 11years (mean 10.13 ± 1.2 years). The cephalometric analysis described by Melsted et al. (1992) was used to evaluate the skeletal and soft tissue morphology. The quality of the dental arch relationship was measured according to the Gosion Yardstick (Mars et al., 1987). The treatment outcome of children treated at the RCCH was evaluated with respect to craniofacial form and dental arch relationship. When comparing the mean cephalometric skeletal parameters of the RCCH to the six centres in the Eurocleft study, a significant difference was found between the RCCH group and centre D for most of the variables. A significant increase in the upper incisor inclination and maxillary inclination was found in the RCCH patients compared to the European centres. The difference in the soft tissue parameters was limited to the relative protrusion of the nose and the sagittal soft tissue variable sss-ns-pgs. The analysis of the Goslon scores showed a significant difference between the RCCH group and centres C, D, and F. According to the Goslon score, 85% of the RCCH patients had good to satisfactory dental arch relationship, which was comparable to that recorded for centres A(92%), B(89%) and C(94). In conclusion, the results of the cephalometric analysis and the Goslon Yardstick showed a significant difference between the RCCH group and centre D. The GosIon score indicated good quality of the dental arch relationship, which faired favourably with the better centres in the Six Centre Study.