Craniofacial morphology in isolated cleft palate prior to palatoplasty.

Roentgencephalometry was used in a study of 30 boys and 30 girls with isolated cleft palate prior to palatoplasty. Their ages ranged from 3.5 to 4.5 years. These patients were compared with a control series and with a group of 20 boys with unilateral cleft lip and palate, examined similarly prior to palatoplasty. The isolated cleft palate (CP) group showed four basic differences from the control group: a shortening of maxillary depth and mandibular length (body and ramus), a reduction of the posterior height of the upper face, and a marked widening of the nasal cavity. In contrast to the unilateral cleft lip and palate group the CP group failed to demonstrate a shortening of the anterior height of the upper face or an elongation of the lower face. There was also no indication of a posterior displacement of the upper jaw, of a dentoalveolar retroinclination of the maxilla, or of an increase of the interocular distance. The observed shortening of both jaws in the CP group might be of importance in understanding the pathogenesis of isolated cleft palate. Unilateral cleft lip and palate was not associated with a reduction of the depth of the upper jaw, although the observed shortening of the lower jaw and of the posterior height of the upper face and the widening of the nasal cavity were similar to those seen in isolated cleft palate.