Four cases of adult patients with anoperated cleft palate

We studied about 4 cases of unoperated cleft palate patients up to grow-up; 3 cases of cleft lip and palate received lip operation in infancy and 1 case of cleft palate alone.Their maxillofacial patterns, dental arches and occlusal conditions were analyzed by means of lateral roentogenographic cephalogram and measurement of dental cast, and we observed differences compared with normal adults.The results may be summarized as follows:1. The maxilla growth in all patients was distributed in normal range.2. Three patients with cleft lip showed slight inhibition of the outward growth of maxilla, consequently a little constriction was observed in their dental arch, whereas the case of cleft palate alone was nearly normal adult.3. The dentition of front and molar part teeth showed a state of normal occlusion and the maxillo-mandibular were mainteined in good condition.Our results suggested that the maxillar growth capacity in cleft palate patients was similar to that of normal adults.