Abstract
The BMD of the craniofacial skeleton was measured in 36 patients with cleft palate [mean age 14; 11 bilateral cleft lip and palate, 19 unilateral cleft lip and palate, 6 isolated cleft palate] and 17 normal healthy controls (mean age 15) using DEXA. BMD of the craniofacial skeleton was divided into cranial vault portion (CV), midface portion (MF) and maxillo-mandibular portion (MM) .
The results are as follows : 1) There are no significant differences between the BMD of the patients and the BMD of the controls in all portions ; 2) There also were no significant differences between the BMD of the patients and the BMD of the controls in all portions in the comparison of the divided subgroups (under 10 years, 11-15 years old, above 16 years old) ; 3) There were no significant differences among the BMD of the patients with bilateral cleft lip and palate, unilateral cleft lip and palate, and isolated cleft palate ; 4) There were no significant differences between the BMD of the males and the BMD of the females in both the patients and the controls ; and 5) There were significant correlations between age and BMD of the CV in the patients (r=0.564, p<0.001), between age and BMD of the MM in the patients (r=0.373, p<0.03), between body weight and BMD of the CV in the patients (r=0.494, p<0.003), between body weight and BMD of the MM in the controls (r= 0.585, p<0.03), and between height and BMD of the MM in the controls (r= 0.553, p<0.04) .
The results indicate that there are no significant differences between BMD of the craniofacial skeleton in the patients and those in the controls, and both cleft palate and palate plasty have no influence on the bone mineral deposition pattern of the craniofacial skeleton. But the significant correlations in the patients between age and BMD of the CV and between age and BMD of the MM suggest that the patients with cleft palate have a special growth pattern of the craniofacial skeleton unlike the controls.
