A Co-relative Study of Dento-skeletal, Oro-pharyngeal Patterns and Speech Performance in Cleft Lip and/or Cleft Palate Anomaly

The study was conducted on twenty cleft lip (CL)/cleft lip and palate (CLP) patients in age group of 10 to 23 yrs.The severity of the cleft ranged from simple alveolar cleft to complete bilateral cleft of lip and palate. Impressions and lateral cephalograms were taken to evaluate the dento-skeletal and oro-pharyngeal form. The speech performance of each individual was recorded and assessed for nasality and misarticulation. Based on speech assessment, the cleft sample was further divided into subgroups. It was seen that all the cleft individuals demonstrated some degree of nasality and misarticulation, however the severity of the speech defects did not co-relate with the deviations in dento-skeletal and oro-pharyngeal form.