Facial growth and development in unilateral cleft lip and palate during the period of puberty: comparison of the development after periosteoplasty and after primary bone grafting.

X-ray cephalometry was used in studies of facial growth and development carried out in 32 males with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate. They underwent primary periosteoplasty and were examined at the ages of 10 and 15 years. The results were compared with the development of the face in a longitudinal study of 20 males with the same type of cleft who were operated with a primary bone graft. The series with periosteoplasty showed a more marked proclination of the upper dentoalveolar component with the restoration of a positive overjet, as compared to a persistent anterior crossbite in the males with bone grafts. The lower jaw showed a larger protrusion, while individuals with bone grafts were characterized at the ages of 10 and 15 years by a larger posterior rotation of the mandible. The growth of the maxilla did not differ between series. In both series, there was a marked reduction in the growth of maxillary depth and of upper lip height, while the highest growth rate showed parameters of nasal prominence. An increasing mandibular protrusion and maxillary retrusion resulted in an impairment of sagittal jaw relations and in the flattening of the face, both of which occurred in almost all patients. The rotation of the lower jaw was not correlated with either the convexity of the face, sagittal jaw relations, or an overjet. The independence of developmental changes of selected characteristics at their initial state documented the impossibility of predicting the development of the face on the basis of a single x-ray examination at a given stage of development. Fixed appliances promoted a more marked proclination of upper incisors and the alveolar process than removable appliances, but they exerted no direct action on the other facial parameters studied.