الفهرس 
1. IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The present study evaluated the oral and dental health status of cleft lip and cleft lip and palate patients, through investigating their medical and dental history as well as, examining their prevalent breathing patterns, caries prevalence and experience, dietary habits, oral cleanliness, gingival health, congenital enamel defects prevalence and distribution, and finally, the prevalence of missing and supernumerary teeth in the sample subjects.
The study population comprised 60 children with cleft lip or cleft lip and palate; ages 4 to 12 years, they were classified according to the type of the cleft into 3 major groups: the unilateral cleft lip and palate group, the bilateral cleft lip and palate group, and the cleft lip group. Each of these major groups was further divided into two subgroups relative to the dental development of each: the primary and the mixed dentition stages.
Medical history revealed that cleft lip and palate patients had experienced a significantly higher number of operations than the cleft lip patients.
Dental history obtained from the patients described that only 8.3% of the study population had been given oral hygiene instructions, 63% of the sample subjects had experienced dental treatment services in the form of extractions and restorative treatments, but none had orthodontic assessments or preventive services.
Only two of the patients in the primary dentition stage who had experienced extractions had space maintainers, while none of the two patients in the mixed dentition stage that had nocturnal non-normative sucking habit (digit sucking), had been given interceptive measures to stop the habit. All of the patients who sought dental services were self referred to general dentists.
The assessment of the prevalent breathing patterns in the sample showed that almost 93.3% of the sample subjects were nasal breathers while only 6.7% were mouth breathers.
The percentage of caries free subjects was 16.6% in the study sample. On comparing the caries experience in the cleft groups examined in this study, there was no statistically significant difference in the caries experience in any of the cleft groups in the primary dentition stage, though the UCLP scored a higher mean (DMFT+dft) in the mixed dentition stage.
The correlation between the caries experience and the consumption of sugar containing foods and drinks showed a positive (direct) correlation when these foods were consumed in between meals but there was no positive correlation between the consumption of sugar containing foods at meal times and caries experience was obtained.
The OHI-S was used to assess the oral hygiene of the study sample, and since the percentage of the sample subjects who had calculus did not exceed 6.6%, only the presence or absence of calculus was recorded. The DI-S was used as a measure of the oral hygiene in the study sample, there was no statistically significant difference in the mean DI-S among different cleft groups.
The gingival condition was assessed using the GI, the mean values of the GI showed a non-statistically significant difference between any of the cleft groups.
The upper arches were recorded to have statistically significant higher mean values of DI-S and GI when compared to the lower arches, moreover, the anterior arch segments were reported with a significant higher mean values of DI-S and GI as well.
Congenital enamel defects were reported in 64% of the study sample, the examined cleft groups did not show a statistically significant difference in the frequency of occurrence of the defects, missing enamel opacities were the most prevalent type of enamel defects in the affected teeth.
31.7% of the sample subjects had missing teeth in the lateral incisor area, none of the examined cleft groups showed a higher predisposition for missing teeth, on the other hand only one of the subjects with BCLP showed a supernumerary tooth in the upper lateral incisor area.