Orthopedic treatment of cleft lip and palate child. An update.

Abstract

Maxillary growth is hindered by the restricting pressure from the scar tissue formed after lip closure and palate closure surgeries of the cleft. Therefore, the anteroposterior skeletal relationship of both jaws exacerbates as patient grows. Conventional facemask treatment is valuable for dentoalveolar compensatory treatment and for very mild maxillary hypoplasia. To achieve further maxillary protraction, bone-anchored facemask or bone-anchored maxillary protraction can be attempted. For moderate maxillary hypoplasia, surgical orthodontic treatment after growth completion can be an efficient treatment reducing uncontrollable problems. For moderate to severe maxillary hypoplasia, distraction osteogenesis (DO) can be used alone or with later surgical orthodontic treatment. To compensate the severe relapse after DO, overcorrection and bone plate placement after DO are recommended. In case of hypernasality, maxillary anterior segmental distraction osteogenesis can be chosen to prevent exacerbation of the hypernasality.