2003 Volume 28 Issue 3 Pages 212-219
Some patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate who have undergone orthodontic treatment later require orthognathic surgery even if the anteroposterior discrepancies in the jaws seem to have been initially improved by control of jaw growth. This study investigated the craniofacial growth and development in such cases. Six male patients were treated by orthognathic surgery (surgical group) and 16 male patients were treated orthodontically alone (nonsurgical group). Longitudinal lateral cephalograms of the patients were examined. The following results were obtained.
1) In patients in the s urgical group, anteroposterior discrepancies in the jaw were improved or at least prevented from deteriorating through orthopedic treatment, but excessive mandibular growth in the forward direction and deterioration of anteroposterior discrepancies in the jaws were noted in the pubertal growth period.
2) Comparison of craniofacial gr owth and development in the surgical and nonsurgical groups showed that there was no obvious difference in extents of maxillary growth in the forward direction but that the extent of mandibular growth in the forward direction in the surgical group was much greater than that in the nonsurgical group. Significant body growth and forward rotation of the mandible were observed in the surgical group. These findings indicated that control of jaw growth in surgical cases was not effective for restricting mandibular forward growth.
3) Comparison of th e initial values of craniofacial cephalometric variables in the surgical and nonsurgical groups did not reveal any significant differences that would enable these two groups to be distinguished.
