Oral clefts include cleft lip (CL), cleft lip with cleft palate (CLP) and cleft palate (CP), with wide variations in clinical presentation and degree of severity. We described a sample of individuals with CL and CP without alveolar arch involvement (CL + CP) to verify if the characteristics of this group are distinct from those with CL with or without CP (CL/P) described in literature. The sample was composed of 356 patients with CL + CP, registered at HRCA-USP, Bauru-SP-Brazil. The following characteristics were investigated: sex ratio, parental age at the time of conception, parental consanguinity, familial recurrence, laterality of the cleft and associated anomalies. A subgroup of 30 individuals with microforms of CL and CP were taken from the sample and compared with the remaining cases. Statistical differences were found between this CL + CP sample and the literature data for groups with CL/P regarding laterality, sex ratio, consanguinity, familial recurrence, and the presence of associated anomalies. The microform sample showed a statistical difference in paternal age. In most evaluated aspects, this sample presents similar characteristics to the consulted literature data for CL/P; as do the group of microform cleft cases when compared with the remaining CL + CP sample in this study. Microforms of cleft can represent a target group for investigation into the embryogenetic mechanisms of oral clefts and their phenotypic variability.