Ideal Versus Late Secondary Alveolar Bone Graft Surgery: A Bone-Thickness Cone-Beam Computed Tomographic Assessment.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the bone morphology after secondary alveolar bone graft surgery (SABG) performed before and after permanent canine eruption. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies, University of São Paulo, Bauru, SP, Brazil. PATIENTS: 25 cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (CLP) individuals who underwent SABG before or after eruption of the permanent canine taken 2 and 6 months (T1 and T2) after SAGB, resulting in 50 CBCT scans. Two groups were assessed, Ideal Group (IG; n = 10) and Late Group (LG; n = 15), according to the time of the SABG. INTERVENTIONS: SABG buccal-palatal thicknesses were measured in 3 different root levels: cement-enamel junction (cervical slice), middle point of the root (intermediate slice), and apex of the central incisor (apical slice). Thickness measurements were assessed in the mesial, distal, and intermediate aspects of the alveolar bone graft. Clinical long-term follow-up was also done. RESULTS: The IG showed significantly greater bone thickness, especially in the intermediate and apical slices, when compared to LG, in T1 and T2. Bone thickness was maintained over time. Clinically, all the IG individuals completed orthodontics, and no major complications were observed. In contrast, 27% of the LG individuals had failures, and rehabilitation was achieved through prosthesis. CONCLUSION: Ideal SABG presents with better results compared with late ABG. When it is not possible to perform SABG at the ideal time, acceptable outcomes still can be expected for late bone grafting.

Bite force of children with repaired unilateral and bilateral cleft lip and palate.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the bite force (BF) of children with repaired cleft lip and palate (CLP). DESIGN: Children aged 6-12 years, with and without CLP, were divided into the following 5 groups: (1) control group (CON): 34 children without CLP (17 female, 17 male, mean age 8.2±1.4); (2) cleft lip group (CL): 31 children with cleft lip involving the pre-maxilla (15 female, 16 male, mean age 9.7±1.3); (3) unilateral CLP group (UCLP): 36 children with complete unilateral CLP (11 female, 25 male, mean age 9.4±1.6); (4) bilateral CLP group (BCLP): 32 children with complete bilateral CLP (11 female, 21 male, mean age 9.5±1.7); and 5) cleft palate group (CP): 17 children with complete cleft palate (9 female, 8 male, mean age 9.4±1.6). Briefly, in this clinical trial, BF was assessed before alveolar bone grafting with a gnathodynamometer (IDDK, Kratos, Cotia, SP, Brazil). For CON, BCLP, CL and CP groups, BF was obtained in the anterior and posterior region of the maxilla. For the UCLP group, BF was assessed in the anterior and posterior regions of both segments. Differences among groups were evaluated by ANOVA test, and Tukey's test was used to assess any correlations among variables (P<0.05). RESULTS: Unexpectedly, no differences of BF were observed among CON and any of the cleft groups. However, a stronger BF was observed in the CL group when compared to the UCLP and BCLP groups. Next, no differences were observed between the cleft side and the noncleft side in the UCLP group. Lastly, in all groups, BFs from the anterior region of the maxilla were less when compared to the posterior regions. CONCLUSION: The BF of children with CLP is no different from children without CLP.