The presence of the maxillary lateral incisor in the cleft gap in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate. Preliminary report.

OBJECTIVE Evaluation of the presence of the maxillary lateral incisor in the cleft in patients with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate treated with the use of various surgical protocols. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted as regards diagnostic models, panoramic radiographs and tooth images of the cleft of 75 patients with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate treated with the use of various surgical protocols (group I: patients who underwent one-stage surgery with early alveolar bone grafting; group II: one-stage operation with secondary alveolar bone grafting; group III: two-stage operation with secondary bone graft or no graft). RESULTS The analysis of the relation between the applied surgical protocol and the absence of the maxillary lateral incisor indicated the lack of the lateral incisor in the cleft in 4 patients from group I(16%), 8 patients from group II (32%) and 13 patients from group III (52%). The difference between groups I and III was statistically significant (p=0.007). The analysis also revealed that as regards the lack of the incisor on the side of the cleft (in all three groups), the hypodontia of the maxillary lateral incisor on the left side was twice as rare as on the right side, in 14 patients (25%) on the left side and in 11 patients (58%) on the right side respectively (p=0.009). The analysis of the relation between the absence of the lateral incisor and the side of the cleft in particular groups of patients indicated that the relation was statistically significant only in group III. CONCLUSIONS The studies reveal that the type of surgical procedure may affect the presence or lack of the lateral incisor in the maxilla on the cleft side. However, it is necessary to conduct studies on larger material.