Abstract
The purpose of this study was to survey the situation and the characteristics of enamel hypoplasia found in child patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP). The authors investigated 239 children aged 3-8 with cleft lip and palate who visited Tohoku University Dental Hospital from February,2002 to January,2003.
1. 54.8% of the children with CLP had enamel hypoplasia in their deciduous and/or permanent teeth. For the deciduous dentition,55.2% of CLP children had enamel hypoplasia. As confirmed based on the type of cleft, enamel hypoplasia appeared with the following. frequency; cleft lip; 33.3%, cleft lip and jaw; 56.8%, cleft lip and palate; 77.6%, cleft palate; 23.3%. For mixed dentition,27.6% of the CLP children had enamel hypoplasia in their permanent teeth.
2. For the deciduous dentition,137 (5.2%) teeth showed enamel hypoplasia among 2,643 observed teeth- cleft lip; 2.2%, cleft lip and jaw; 5.5%, cleft lip and palate; 7.0% and cleft palate; 1.9%. For the mixed dentition 52 (7.7%) permanent teeth expressed enamel hypoplasia among 672 permanent teeth observed.
3. Among children with cleft lip, cleft lip and jaw, and cleft lip and palate, the rate of prevalence of enamel hypoplasia was higher for the anterior teeth. Among children with cleft palate, the rate of prevalence of enamel hypoplasia was high for the second deciduous molar.
4. the rate of prevalence of enamel hypoplasia at the cleft site was higher than that in the healthy site.
5. As enamel hypoplasia type of the permanent teeth, numerous white spots were observed, but in the deciduous teeth, pigmentation or enamel defects were more frequently observed than white spots.
6. There was no correlation between the appearance of enamel hypoplasia and birth weight or timing of operation for cleft lip and palate.
