Postural characteristics of patients with unilateral cleft lip, alveolar ridge and palate

Relevance. Treatment of patients with cleft lip and palate requires a comprehensive approach in treatment, and analysis of the vertebral column state reveals the need to include orthopedic rehabilitation in the therapy algorithm. The purpose of the study is to assess the posture disorders and spinal deformities in patients 5-12 years old with cleft of the upper lip, alveolar process and palate and compare with posture disorders in patients with mesial occlusion.Materials and methods. The study involved 26 patients (8 girls, 18 boys) with unilateral cleft lip and palate and 24 children (9 girls, 15 boys) with mesial occlusion, aged 5-12 years, whose posture was studied by the optical topographic imaging technique. The results of "sagittal analysis", "lateral analysis", and "horizontal analysis" were received. The examination resulted in the allocation of several groups according to the posture health, which was determined based on the worst diagnosis made on three planes of the spinal column examination: I-H – health group I – healthy; I-S – health group I – subnormal (1-2 stage scoliosis); II-PD – health group II – posture disorder; II-SD – health group II – spinal deformity (1-2 stage scoliosis and other spinal deformities); III – health group III – moderate and severe spinal deformities. Statistical data was processed using the "data analysis" function of the KOMOT program itself and the Microsoft Excel program.Results. Patients with cleft lip, alveolar ridge and palate demonstrated musculoskeletal disorders more frequently than children with similar malocclusion, especially in a frontal and sagittal plane: 72% of the main group and 50% of the comparison group exhibited stage-1 scoliosis, round-concave back, enhancement of physiologic curves were also 14% higher in the main group.100% of the examined children of the main group revealed postural disorders in the coronal plane, 61% – in the horizontal plane and 89% – in the sagittal plane.Conclusions. The study evidenced that patients with cleft lip, alveolar process, and palate have significantly more musculoskeletal disorders than children, who have a similar malocclusion. Orthopaedic treatment should be included in the rehabilitation of children with cleft lip, alveolar ridge and palate.