A clinical Investigation of Patients with Submucous cleft Palate

―Speech Outcomes―

Abstract

We investigated speech outcomes in 80 patients with submucous cleft palate assessed by the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic and the Speech Clinic in Dentistry at the Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital from 1982 to 2012. Of the 80 patients, there were 60 patients in the surgically treated group and 20 patients in the non-surgically treated group.
The results were as follows:
1) In the surgically treated group, the velopharyngeal function evaluated after palatoplasty (an average of 2 years postoperatively) was good (good＋fairly good) in 36 patients (63.4%). When we examined the association between age at palatoplasty and velopharyngeal function, the velopharyngeal function evaluated postoperatively was good in almost all of the 1-year-old children, but poor (fairly poor＋poor) in more than half of the children over 5 years of age. When we examined the association between mental retardation (MR) and velopharyngeal function, the MR group tended not to have better outcomes than the non-MR group.
2) In the non-surgically treated group, there was no clear change before and after treatment.