Abstract
Objectives: Multiple factors are whispered to be crucial cause of unfavourable dental arch relationship in cleft lip and palate (CLP). This study aims to evaluate the dental arch relationship of Bangladeshi children with non syndromic unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) following cheiloplasty and palatoplasty. Also to explore the various congenital (UCLP type, UCLP side, family history of cleft, family history of class III) and environmental (cheiloplasty, palatoplasty) factors that affects dental arch relationship of UCLP patients. Study design: This was a retrospective study where 84 dental models were taken before orthodontic treatment and alveolar bone grafting. The mean age was 7.69 +/- 2.46 (mean +/- SD). The dental arch relationship was assessed by GOSLON (Great Ormond Street, London and Oslo) Yardstick. According to GOSLON Yardstick, five categories are rated; named-1: excellent; 2: good; 3: fair; 4: poor; 5: very poor. Also the groups have been dichotomized into favorable (category ratings 1-3) and unfavorable (category ratings 4 and 5) groups. Kappa statistics was used to evaluate the intra- and inter-examiner agreements and logistic regression analysis was used to explore the responsible factors that affect dental arch relationship. Results: Total 37 subjects (44% of all subjects) were categorized into unfavourable group (category rating 4 and 5) using GOSLON yardstick. Intra-and inter-examiner agreements were very good. The mean GOSLON score was 3.238. Using crude and stepwise backward regression analysis, significant association was found between family history of skeletal class III malocclusion (p = 0.015 and p = 0.014 respectively) and unfavourable dental arch relationship. Complete UCLP (p = 0.054) and left sided UCLP (p = 0.053) also seemed to be correlated but not significant with unfavourable dental arch relationship using crude and stepwise backward regression analysis respectively. Conclusion: This analysis suggested that family history of skeletal class III was significantly correlated with unfavourable dental arch relationship of Bangladeshi UCLP children.