Examination of dental casts in newborns with bilateral complete cleft lip and palate

This study reports measurements of dental casts in patients up to 6 months of age with bilateral complete cleft lip and palate (BCLP). 25 mouth casts of newborns with BCLP were selected from the hospital archive. They were measured independently by two examiners who assigned numbers to each measurement, referring to the expected reproducibility. The investigators also classified each dental cast according to an established score. The absolute values of all measured distances (P-P′, L-C1-C2-T, L′-C1′-C2′-T′, P-L, P′-L′, L-L′, C1-C1′, C2-C2′, Q1-Q1′, Q2-Q2′, T-T′, I-Q1Q1′, I-Q2Q2′, I-TT′) are reported. Inter-observer reproducibility was acceptable with total measurement errors ranging from 0.5 to 1.4 mm. Most reliability scores, ranging from 1 (very high) to 5 (very low), showed a mean between 2 and 3 (min 2.17; max 3.16). The two examiners rated only one patient differently, according to the applied classification scheme. The absolute measurement values of the two classification systems accorded with the literature. This is the first study to measure the distances according to an established protocol in BCLP patients. The measurements between certain landmarks are more precise than others; it may be possible to use the more precise points for a longitudinal study from birth to 18 years.