The oral effects of orotracheal intubation in prematurely born preschoolers.

This cross-sectional study of fifty-two prematurely-born children, ages two to five years, evaluated the long-term effects of oral intubation at birth on palatal architecture, crossbite malocclusion, and enamel structure. Seventy percent showed a high palatal vault, with palatal grooving in 25 percent; 36 percent had enamel defects in the maxillary primary incisors; and 17 percent had posterior crossbites. The mean palatal depth was 12.9 mm, as compared to 11.4 mm for a group of 45 nonintubated, normal healthy children (the difference was significant at alpha = 0.05). There are significant iatrogenic defects from prolonged neonatal intubation with this sample of preschoolers.