Maxillary arch width in unoperated adult bilateral cleft lip and alveolus and complete bilateral cleft lip and palate.

OBJECTIVES: To study maxillary arch width in adult patients with bilateral cleft lip and alveolus (BCLA) or with complete bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP), who have not had any surgery. SETTING AND SAMPLING POPULATION: Eighteen patients with BCLA, 13 patients with BCLP, and 24 controls from remote areas of Indonesia collected over 10 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dental casts were digitized three-dimensionally using an industrial coordinate measuring machine (CCM) (Zeiss Numerex; Carl Zeiss, Stuttgart, Germany). Transversal distance between molars was measured on the tip of the distobuccal cusp and the tip of the mesiobuccal cusp, and for premolars and canines, the tip of the buccal cusps was recorded. Means and standard deviations were calculated for all variables. t-Test was used to determine whether the mean values of the cleft groups showed significant differences from each other and from the controls. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Transversal arch dimensions in the BCLA group were comparable to the controls except at the canine level. Intercanine distance, which is close to the alveolar cleft, was 4.3 mm (SE 1.4) smaller in the BCLA group (p = 0.002). In the BCLP group, a comparable pattern was found. At the canine level, mean transversal width was 7.2 mm (SE 1.9) smaller compared to the control group, but no significant differences were found in the other transversal dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Small differences are found in transversal dimensions in patients with BCLA and BCLP compared to a control group. Differences are most outspoken in the area near the cleft.

Growth characteristics of large mandibular ameloblastomas: report of 5 cases with implications for the approach to surgery.

The aim of this study was to establish surgical guidelines based on the growth pattern of ameloblastomas in relation to the possible infiltration of the cortical bone, the inferior alveolar nerve, the periosteal layer and the surrounding soft tissues. Five male patients with voluminous mandibular ameloblastomas were treated by means of radical surgery. Ameloblastomas showed an invasive growth pattern in the cancellous bone with small tumour nests at a maximum distance of 5mm away from the bulk of the tumour. Expansive and invasive growth in the Haversian canals was observed. There was no invasion of the inferior alveolar nerve. The mucoperiosteal layer was invaded but not perforated. No invasion was observed in the surrounding soft tissues of the periosteum and in the skin tissue. A local resection with a surgical margin of spongious bone of 1cm is suggested. When the tumour is radiologically closer than 1cm to the inferior border of the mandible, a continuity resection is mandatory. A conservative approach concerning the inferior alveolar nerve is suggested. Removal of an excess of perimandibular soft tissue is not indicated. The overlying attached mucosal surface should however be excised together with the underlying bone.

The adult unoperated cleft patient: absence of maxillary teeth outside the cleft area.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible absence of teeth in the postcanine region of the upper jaw of the unoperated adult cleft patient. METHOD: The study was performed on 266 dental casts of fully unoperated adult cleft patients. The patients were divided into four groups according to the type of the cleft: unilateral cleft lip and alveolus, unilateral cleft lip and palate, bilateral cleft lip and alveolus, and bilateral cleft lip and palate. RESULTS: No absence of permanent teeth in the canine and postcanine area of the upper jaw could be found. CONCLUSION: The results are in contradiction with the established hypothesis that absence of teeth outside the cleft area of the maxilla is due to an unknown congenital factor. On the contrary, the findings support the hypothesis that surgery for the closure of the hard palate in early childhood is the most important etiological factor for the absence of teeth outside the cleft area in the early operated cleft patient. The superficial position of the tooth germs (at the time of the palatal surgery), especially those of the premolars, supports this hypothesis.

Median cleft of the lower lip associated with lip pits and cleft of the lip and palate.

OBJECTIVE: In this case report, we present an unusual combination of three congenital malformations: median cleft of the lower lip, lip pits, and unilateral cleft of the lip and palate without familial occurrence. CONCLUSIONS: From an etiological point of view, this combination of malformations could have happened during the late embryogenic period. Why this combination is uncommon is not known.

Dental cast study of adult patients with untreated unilateral cleft lip or cleft lip and palate in indonesia compared with surgically treated patients in The Netherlands.

To determine differences in maxillary and dentoalveolar relationships between untreated and treated patients having unilateral clefts of the lip and alveolus (UCLA) or lip and palate (UCLP), dental cast assessments were done on 70 untreated adult Indonesian patients (UCLA-I, UCLP-I) and 67 Dutch patients, surgically treated in infancy (UCLA-D, UCLP-D). The Indonesian group consisted of 44 UCLA-I and 26 UCLP-I patients, and the Dutch group of 24 UCLA-D and 43 UCLP-D patients. In the UCLA-I patients, deformities occurred in that part of the dentoalveolar complex that surrounds the cleft. Lip repair in the UCLA-D group more frequently caused deformities in the incisor and buccal areas on the cleft side. In the UCLP-I patients, deformities were present in the incisor and cuspid areas on the cleft side. The buccal segments showed collapse both on the cleft and noncleft sides. Lip and palate repair in the UCLP-D group caused significantly more deformities in the incisor, cuspid, and buccal areas up to the level of the first molars, both on the cleft and noncleft sides. Surgical treatment seems to cause maxillary and dentoalveolar deformities up to the first molars more frequently, but these are not as pronounced as one would expect: following the practiced surgical regimen, the deformities were usually mild. Negative effects of surgical intervention seem to be antagonized by the restored integrity of the lip and palate leading to orientation of maxillary parts and correction of tongue position, which in turn has a molding effect on the maxilla and mandible.