Alveolar Volume Following Different Timings of Secondary Bone Grafting in Patients with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate. A Pilot Study

This study was intended to evaluate the relationship between secondary alveolar bone grafting (SABG) timing and the alveolar volume in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP). The material consisted of CTs of 35 patients (17 males, 18 females) with UCLP who underwent a one-stage primary cleft repair at a mean age of 8.4 months and SABG at different timings ranges of 1.8-18.8 years. The mean age at CT was 17.2 years. The relative coefficient (Ꞷ) which was independent from factors such as individual maxillary size, gender or age at the CT was introduced in order to compare volumes of the cleft-side in relation to the non-cleft-side alveolus. Pearson correlation coefficient r between Ꞷ coefficient and SABG timing was weak negative (r = -0.34, p = 0.045). The multiple regression analysis implied that the dependent variable-Ꞷ coefficient was associated with independent variables (cleft repair and SABG timings and age at CT) with r² = 0.228. Only patient's age at SABG explained the dependent variable (p = 0.003). The study cautiously indicates a tendency to larger alveolar volume following earlier timing of SABG. Nevertheless, the further research on a larger group of patients should be performed before formulating any clinical indications.