Assessment of arch constriction in patients with bilateral cleft lip and palate and isolated cleft palate: a pilot study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to test the use of the modified Huddart/Bodenham scoring system on patients with a bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP) or an isolated cleft palate (CP). Study models of 5- and 10-year-old patients with BCLP (n = 19) and isolated CP (n = 55) from the Cleft Services in Scotland database were scored using the system by four examiners on two separate occasions to test inter- and intraexaminer reliability. The weighted kappa statistic was used to evaluate reliability. The interexaminer reliability ranged from 0.48 to 0.74 (moderate to good agreement) for the BCLP group and 0.77 to 0.86 (good to very good agreement) for the isolated CP group. The number of study models available for the BCLP group was small due to the low incidence of this cleft group, but the scoring system was shown to be reliable when used in cleft types other than unilateral cleft lip and palate. The modified Huddart/Bodenham scoring system provides a useful tool suitable for assessing arch constriction in all types of orofacial clefting, which is objective, sensitive, and versatile.