A longitudinal study of the presence of dental anomalies in the primary and permanent dentitions of cleft lip and/or palate patients

Objective: The aim is to survey primary and permanent dental anomalies: hypodontia, microdontia, a supernumerary tooth, and fused teeth in patients with cleft lip and/or palate. Design: Retrospective longitudinal study Subjects: The subjects were selected from all 1724 patients with cleft lip and/or palate who were registered at the orthodontic clinic of Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan, from 1970 to 2009. Finally, 994 subjects were evaluated for primary dentition, 1352 for permanent dentition, and 871 for the longitudinal changes from primary to permanent dentition. Methods: The prevalence of dental anomalies was compared for each tooth type, among various cleft types, between males and females, and between the alveolar cleft area and the noncleft area. Results: The prevalence of hypodontia was 16.2% for primary dentition and 52.7% for permanent dentition in the subjects with cleft lip and/or palate. Hypodontia increased with the severity of the cleft type. Multiple hypodontia was found more frequently in the subjects with bilateral cleft lip and palate and the subjects with unilateral cleft lip and palate. Microformed lateral incisors were found in 22.7% of permanent lateral incisors but not in primary dentition. Supernumerary teeth were found in 17.7% of the subjects with cleft lip and/or palate for primary maxillary dentition and in 5.7% for permanent maxillary dentition. Conclusion: The prevalence of hypodontia was greater in permanent dentition than in primary dentition; although, it was not much different between males and females or between the right and left sides. The prevalence of dental anomalies was significantly different among four groups by cleft type: cleft lip, cleft lip and alveolus, cleft lip and palate, and cleft palate.