Use of Bauru Yardstick in Patients With Complete Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate at an Indian Center.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate dental arch relationship in treated bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP) cases at an Indian cleft center using the Bauru yardstick.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Digital photographs of the dental cast of 50 consecutively treated patients (28 males and 22 females) with nonsyndromic BCLP at an Indian cleft center were rated by 2 examiners as per the Bauru yardstick for the 12-year-old age group. The average age group was 12 ± 0.62 years. All cases were treated with same surgical protocol.

RESULTS

The inter-examiner agreement between the 3 examiners was found to be very high, with weighted kappa values ranging from 0.894 to 0.951. The intraexaminer agreement between the 2 examinations for all the examiners was also found to be very high, with weighted kappa values ranging from 0.894 to 0.931. Seventy-eight percent of patients were rated with a Bauru yardstick score of 1+2. In addition, 10% of patients were rated with a score of 3, 8% as 4, and 4% as 5. The overall Bauru yardstick score for the center was 2.36.

CONCLUSION

The protocol followed for the repair of BCLP cases by the center was found to be a good regimen in regard to the Bauru yardstick score.