Stability of joint orthognathic and orthodontic treatment for dental-facial deformity in patients with cleft lip and palate

Objective To evaluate the skeletal stability of joint orthognathic and orthodontic treatment for cleft patients compared with non-cleft patients. Methods Fifteen cleft patient diagnosed with dental facial deformities underwent joint orthognathic and orthodontic treatment. Cephalometric analysis was carried out at T0 (before treatment), T1 (2 weeks after surgery), T2 (6 months after surgery) and T3 (24 months after surgery). The comparison of maxillary anterior-posterior and superior-inferior movement was performed with non-cleft orthognathic group (n=15) at the same follow-up time point. Results The maxilla was move forward for (3.8±1.5) mm and downward for (2.4±0.8) mm of cleft group. The relapse distance was (1.2±0.7) mm (T1-T2: 31.6%) in AP direction and (0.9±0.6) mm (T1-T2: 37.5%) in vertical direction. At the time of 24 months after operation, the relapse distance was (1.0±0.5) mm (T1-T3: 26.0%) in AP direction and (0.8±0.8) mm (T1-T3: 33.3%) vertically. In non-cleft group, the maxilla was move (4.3±1.2) mm anteriorly and (2.2±1.9) mm vertically. The relapse distance was (0.9±1.2) mm (T1-T2: 20.9%) anteriorly and (0.8±0.9) mm (T1-T2: 36.6%) vertically at 6 months post-operatively. At 24 months after surgery the relapse distance was (1.1±0.6) mm (T1-T3: 25.6%) anteriorly and (0.9±0.5) mm (T1-T3: 40.9%) vertically. There were no statistical significant in both 6 months and 24 months follow-up between cleft and non-cleft group (P>0.05). Conclusions There is no statistic difference of post-surgical relapse rate between cleft and non-cleft orthognathic and orthodontic treatments, although the relapse distances are greater than that in cleft group. Key words: Cleft lip; Cleft palate; Orthognathic surgical procedures; Orthodontic anchorage procedures; Recurrence