A rapid method of measuring the palatal surface area of cleft palate infants.

A method is described for rapidly measuring the surface area of the palate by adapting a piece of soft plastic to a model of the upper jaw using a vacuum moulding technique. Tests with a hemisphere of known surface area showed the method to be consistent and to have a low degree of systematic error. When measuring models with unrepaired cleft palates, the error was found to be 2.1 per cent (compared with 3 per cent using stereophotogrammetry) but 7.1 percent when measuring intact palates. Because of the consistency of the method, the true palatal area could be calculated from the measured area by the use of a multiplying factor. These findings are described, and the application of the technique to the pretreatment assessment of cleft cases is illustrated by showing that, in a series of 30 cleft palate and 30 normal infants, a tissue deficiency of 16.8 per cent existed in the cleft subjects at birth.