Caries prevalence in non-syndromic patients with cleft lip and/or palate: a meta-analysis.

AIM To evaluate caries prevalence in non-syndromic patients with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) in comparison with a matched non-CLP population. METHODS A literature search was conducted in order to identify articles reporting on the prevalence of caries in CLP versus non-CLP individuals. The related citations function in PubMed and reference lists of retrieved articles were used to expand the search. Only studies with a suitable matched control group were included. From each included study, study and sample characteristics were extracted, as were results. The main outcome was the score given for caries prevalence in each study, using a well-defined index. The data were entered into meta-analysis software and a meta-analysis performed using the random-effects model. RESULTS From the 592 articles initially identified, 7 were chosen according to preset inclusion and exclusion criteria. All of the studies were cross-sectional in nature, and used the decayed, missing, and filled (DMF/dmf) indices as the final outcomes. The included studies involved a total of 474 CLP patients aged 1.5-29 years. When looking at permanent teeth, data from 5 studies suggest that CLP patients have a higher number of DMF teeth than the controls (mean difference 1.38; p = 0.003). For deciduous teeth, data from 4 studies suggest that CLP patients have a higher number of dmf teeth than the controls (mean difference 1.51; p = 0.03). CONCLUSION Non-syndromic patients with CLP tend to have higher caries prevalence, both in the permanent and the deciduous dentition, in comparison with matched non-CLP controls.