Failed attendances at hospital dental clinics among young patients with cleft lip and palate.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the frequency of missed dental appointments among children with a cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P).

DESIGN

A prospective study of failed appointments over a 12-month period.

SETTING

Three different CL/P clinics within a British dental hospital.

PATIENTS

Forty-five CL/P children (mean age of 8.8 years) and 45 age-matched, gender-matched, and postal code-matched noncleft patients.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The overall percentage of missed appointments at three different clinics by CL/P patients and the difference in attendance rates at the pediatric dentistry clinic between CL/P and non-CL/P children.

RESULTS

Pediatric dentistry had the highest rate of missed appointments (22.4%), followed by the multidisciplinary cleft clinic (9.2%) and the orthodontic clinic (8.8%). CL/P patients missed a significantly greater proportion of their pediatric dentistry appointments than noncleft children (22.4% versus 11.9%). Patients with a bilateral CL/P were significantly more likely to miss an appointment than patients with a unilateral CL/P. Age, gender, medical history, and distance traveled had no significant effect on attendance rates.

CONCLUSIONS

Further work is needed to identify risk factors for poor attendance and to develop strategies to reduce the frequency of missed appointments in this vulnerable group.