[The adjustment of the canine teeth adjacent to the cleft depending on the time of late primary osteoplasty].

Timing for secondary bone-grafting is decisive for a successful orthodontic alignment of canines, adjacent to the cleft. This could be shown after evaluation of diagnostic data from 123 patients with unilateral cleft alveolus and cleft lip and palate and in a clinical follow-up of 29 former patients, 7.3 year after treatment. Concerning eruption and periodontal conditions of cleft adjacent canines, better results could always be seen, if bone was grafted, before mineralisation of canine root has reached 3/4 of its total length. If grafting was done after this stage, disturbances in eruption occurred more frequently. Most canines tended to erupt palatally but could successfully be aligned orthodontically. The follow-up study showed good results concerning probing depth, pulp reaction and periodontal stability. Using our own clinical data, best chronologic age for bone grafting lies between 9 1/2 and ten years.