Periodontal Findings in Children with Cleft Lip and Palate: A Systematic Review

A cleft lip occurs when the tissues that compose the lip fail to fuse together before delivery. There is a gap in the upper lip in the case of a cleft lip. An affected child may also have a cleft palate if they have a cleft lip. The condition is also sometimes diagnosed after birth. A cleft palate sometimes takes a long time to be diagnosed (such as sub mucous cleft palates and bifid uvulas). The surgical repair of a child's face can improve their breathing, hearing, and even their speech and language skills. Using the Medline and PubMed Central databases, this study examined periodontal findings in children with clefted lip and palate using a systematic literature search in English. All search terms were in English and were applicable to the articles related to periodontal findings in children with cleft lip and palate. To electronically extract data from Medline and PubMed Central, an electronic form is designed by the principal investigator. Upon screening using filters, inclusion and exclusion criteria, around 6 articles were selected related in this study. These articles were systematically reviewed and analyzed using PRISMA. When a child has a cleft lip or palate, it affects oral hygiene and the amount of periodontal pathogens in the oral biofilm. In the literature, there is a lack of studies which utilize validated, reliable measures to determine how individuals with oral clefts perceive their quality of life. It will be important to perform additional studies that utilize specific tools for assessing Quality of Life in patients with oral clefts with larger samples in hopes of better understanding their Quality of Life.