More caries in primary teeth of children who have cleft lip and palate

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Data sourcesMedline (PubMed) was used to identify published data for the review.Study selectionCase–control studies were included if they used controls matched for age and sex, with non-cavitated and manifest caries lesions as outcomes, and were published in English, German, Swedish, Danish or Norwegian.Data extraction and synthesisThe studies were assessed independently by two reviewers and scored A–C according to predetermined criteria for methodology and performance.ResultsSignificantly more caries was reported in children who had cleft lip and palate (CLP) in two out of the four studies in the permanent dentition and in three out of four publications dealing with primary teeth. None of the articles was scored as ‘A’, however, and the level of evidence was therefore based on three papers graded ‘B’. There was a tendency towards higher caries scores in preschool children but, as there were conflicting results, the evidence that children with CLP exhibit more caries than noncleft controls was inconclusive.ConclusionsThere was a clear tendency towards more caries in primary teeth in children who have CLP. No firm conclusion could be made because the quality of the eligible studies was low to moderate and there are also conflicting results. Better quality research is needed within this area.