OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the dental arch relationship in preadolescent children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate after early secondary alveolar bone grafting (E-ABG) by comparing to late bone grafting (L-ABG). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two raters blindly assessed the dental arch relationship with the modified Huddart-Bodenham (HB) Index for 2 groups: E-ABG group (36 children, mean age 9.6 years) and L-ABG group (56 children, mean age 11.1 years). The groups differed with respect to age at which alveolar bone grafting was performed: between 1.4 and 4.1 years (mean 2.2 years, E-ABG group) and after 8 years (L-ABG group). T-test was run to compare scores between 2 groups. Regression analysis was carried out to evaluate gender, age at cleft repair, age at ABG, and age at assessment with the HB index. RESULTS: The overall HB scores were -6.77 and -4.25 in the E-ABG and L-ABG groups, respectively (p = 0.025). Regression analysis showed that only the age at cleft repair influenced the HB scores. CONCLUSION: ABG carried out between 2 and 4 years of age does not seem to negatively affect the dental arch relationship at the age of 10 years in comparison to L-ABG.

Department of Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery National Reference Center for Cleft Lip and Palate Hôpital Universitaire Necker Enfants Malades 149 Rue de Sèvres 75015 Paris France

Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics University of Bern Freiburgstrasse 9 3010 Bern Switzerland

Department of Orthodontics Institute of Dentistry and Oral Sciences Palacky University Olomouc Palackeho 12 771 00 Olomouc Czech Republic

Department of Paediatric Surgery Institute of Mother and Child Kasprzaka 17a 01 211 Warsaw Poland

Private Practice Diemtigtalstrasse 15 3753 Oey Switzerland

Private Practice Winkelstrasse 22 1716 Plaffeien Switzerland

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