Maxillary Development and Dental Arch Relationships Following Early Two-Stage Palatoplasty: A Comparative Study.

Abstract

To examine skeletal morphology and dental arch relationships at 8 years of age following early 2-stage palatoplasty, which consists of soft palate plasty at 1 year of age and hard palate closure at 1.5 years of age, and to compare the results with those of conventional pushback palatoplasty. Retrospective. Single institutional study. Eighty-six patients with nonsyndromic complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) were selected. The subjects were divided into 2 groups according to the palatoplasty protocols, as follows: 45 patients, who underwent early 2-stage palatoplasty (ETS group), and 41 patients, who underwent 1-stage pushback palatoplasty (PB group). Skeletal morphology was assessed using lateral cephalometric analysis, and dental arch relationships were examined using the GOSLON yardstick. Cephalometric analysis revealed that the anterior-posterior length of the maxilla, measured by PTM-A and PTM-ANS, both projected to the nasal floor (NF) plane, was longer in the ETS group than in the PB group (PTM-A/NF, p = .04; PTM-ANS/NF, p = .03, unpaired t-test), although no significant difference was observed in SNA (p = .09, unpaired t-test). Upper posterior facial height was shorter in the ETS group than in the PB group (p = .02, unpaired t). Assessments with the GOSLON yardstick showed that the ETS group presented better dental arch relationships than the PB group (p = 0.04, Mann-Whitney's U-test). The present results suggested that the ETS protocol reduced the negative effects of palatal surgery on facial development and dental arch relationships in patients with complete UCLP at 8 years of age.