The prevalence of various dental characteristics in the primary and mixed dentition in patients born with non-syndromic unilateral cleft lip with or without cleft palate.

This retrospective study was carried out on consecutively collected dental casts, x-rays, and photos of 129 Swedish children who had been born with non-syndromic unilateral (U) cleft lip (CL), cleft lip and alveolus (CLA), or cleft lip and palate (CLP). The following dental characteristics were investigated in the primary and permanent dentitions: 1. the presence, eruption, position, and shape of the lateral incisor; 2. the prevalence of rotation and enamel hypoplasia of the permanent central incisor; 3. the occurrence of hypodontia outside the cleft region; and 4. the transition from the primary to the succeeding permanent lateral incisor in the cleft region. Patients with clefts involving the palate (UCLP) exhibited a high frequency of hypodontia. In patients with clefts, which did not include the palate, malformed lateral incisors were a common finding. In the primary and permanent dentition, the lateral incisor had erupted distal to the cleft in 31.8 and 24.8 per cent of the UCLA and UCLP patients, respectively. No significant pattern was seen regarding the transition from the primary to the succeeding permanent lateral incisor (P = 0.15). The central incisor was rotated in 55 per cent of the patients and this positional deviation was particularly frequent in cases where the lateral incisor was missing in the premaxilla (P < 0.05). Hypodontia outside the cleft region was recorded in 15.5 per cent of the patients. Patients with UCLP had more often crossbite than patients with a UCL or a UCLA phenotype (P < 0.001).

A comparison of hand-tracing and cephalometric analysis computer programs with and without advanced features--accuracy and time demands.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the basic and advanced features of five different cephalometric analysis computer programs. The level of measurement agreement with hand-tracing and time demands was examined. The material consisted of 30 digital lateral radiographic images. Twenty-three measurements were calculated by one operator both manually and using five different cephalometric analysis software programs. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to detect differences in measurement agreement between hand-tracing and basic features as well as between hand-tracing and advanced features. Coefficient of variation (CV) was used to assess intra-user error and a Student's t-test to determine time differences. Of the 23 measurements tested for each procedure, one [(Ii to NB (mm)] showed better agreement with hand-tracing when the advanced features were used, 20 showed good agreement with hand-tracing for both basic and advanced features, while two (AB on FOP and Ii to A/Pog) showed poor intra-user reproducibility. Hand-tracing took a significantly longer time (P < 0.001) than both the basic and advanced features. The advanced features took a significantly longer time (P < 0.001) than the basic features. Both basic and advanced features showed good measurement agreement with the hand-tracing technique. The use of the basic features minimizes the time requirements for analysis. A computerized tracing technique, which consists of either basic or advanced feature, can be regarded as less time consuming and equally reliable to hand-tracing as far as cephalometric measurements are concerned.