Features of maxillary arch and nasal cavity in infancy and their influence on deciduous occlusion in unilateral cleft lip and palate.

The purpose of this study was to test the statistical relationship between certain preoperative characteristics of the maxilla and nasal cavity and later occlusal development in patients born with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate. The sample consisted of 51 patients and 22 of them had undergone surgical treatment which included vomer flap and pushback palatal repair, while the remaining 29 patients were treated with a routine characterized by delayed closure of the hard palate. Twelve variables related to 4 different maxillary and nasal areas were recorded from maxillary casts and frontal cephalograms obtained in infancy. Crossbite scores and maxillary intercanine width were determined from dental casts taken at 3 years of age. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the preoperative variables selected as predictors of maxillary development at the age of 3 did not explain more than half of the variation found in our subjects. Also, the predictors were not the same in the two surgical subgroups. To improve our ability to predict, further variables should be tested and, if possible, added to the regression formulae.