alveolar bone grafting
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Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common facial deformities. During embryonic life, non-fusion of the maxillary and medial nasal plaques leads to cleft lip and palate. Fissures can produce a range of dental problems in terms of number, size, shape, and position, related to deciduous or permanent dentition. Besides this, the teeth most affected are those located in the fissure area. There are numerous treatment protocols, which, despite the lack of a consensus, start as soon as the child is born, going into adulthood, seeking functional and aesthetic rehabilitation. The surgical phases, lip repair, nasal repair, palatoplasty and alveolar bone grafting, are performed according to age. As for the bone graft, the most used option is the secondary graft, with the autogenous one being the most available. Thus, the objective of this work is to present a clinical case of secondary alveolar bone grafting in a 10-year-old female patient with an incomplete unilateral pre-foramen cleft.

Objective This study aimed to review all research evidence of presurgical cleft size and related factors to success of secondary alveolar bone grafting (SABG). Design and Setting The systematic review searched the OVID-Medline®, PubMed®, Embase®, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) up to August 2020. Two reviewers independently selected potential abstracts for full review. Disagreeements were resolved by consensus. The first author extracted data and assessed the risk of bias using Risk of Bias in Non-randomized studies—of Interventions tool. Patients and Interventions Patients with non-syndromic clefts who received SABG were selected. Presurgical cleft size/volume and treatment results must be available. Main Outcome Measures Level of the grafted bone, achievement of orthodontic tooth movement into the grafted area, need for re-operation. Results From 962 abstracts, 23 publications were included. Mean cleft width was 6.80 ± 1.98 mm, cleft area 20–240 mm2, and mean volume 0.89 ± 0.33 cm3. No definite conclusion was achieved on whether a narrow or wide cleft showed better treatment outcomes, but other potentially related factors were good oral hygiene and eruptive force of the maxillary canines. Lack of a standard definition of cleft size, a small sample size, varying outcome parameters, and moderate-to-high risk of bias contributed to the summary. A meta-analysis could not be performed because of the heterogeneity. Conclusion Due to insufficient evidence, cleft width/volume could not be specified leading to more successful SABG. Care of patients could be improved in both research by following rigorous methodology, and practice by clear communication.

Background Since COVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March of 2020, foundation-based cleft outreach programs to Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) were halted considering global public health challenges, scarcity of capacity and resources, and travel restrictions. This led to an increase in the backlog of untreated patients with cleft lip and/or palate, with new challenges to providing comprehensive care in those regions. Resumption of international outreach programs requires an updated course of action to incorporate necessary safety measures in the face of the ongoing pandemic. In this manuscript, the authors outline safety protocols, guidelines, and recommendations implemented in Global Smile Foundation's (GSF) most recent outreach trip to Beirut, Lebanon. Methods COVID-19 safety protocols for outreach cleft care and an Action Response Plan were developed by the GSF team based on the published literature and recommendations from leading international organizations. Results GSF conducted a 1-week surgical outreach program in Beirut, Lebanon, performing 13 primary cleft lip repairs, 7 cleft palate repairs, and 1 alveolar bone grafting procedure. Safety protocols were implemented at all stages of the outreach program, including patient preselection and education, hospital admission and screening, intraoperative care, and postoperative monitoring and follow-up. Conclusions Organizing outreach programs in the setting of infectious diseases outbreaks should prioritize the safety and welfare of patients and team members within the program's local community. The COVID-19 protocols and guidelines described may represent a reproducible framework for planning future similar outreach initiatives in high-risk conditions.

To three-dimensionally assess and visualize the eruption path and development of the maxillary canine following alveolar bone grafting in patients born with cleft lip and palate. A further objective of this analysis was to assess how the presence of the lateral incisor impacts the eruption path of the canine. Observational follow-up study. Stockholm Craniofacial Team, Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden. Thirty children born with non-syndromic unilateral cleft lip with or without palate were consecutively included. CBCT scans of the maxilla were taken six months before and six months after the alveolar bone-grafting surgery for each patient. Canine eruption (angulation and vertical movement) and canine development (length and volume). There was a significant difference pre- and post-operatively of the canine angulation between the cleft and non-cleft sides. The mean angulation on the cleft side was 14.7° (SD  =  11.1°) while on the non-cleft side, it was 4.9° (SD  =  9.2°). No significant differences were noted between cleft-side and non-cleft side canines in terms of amount of vertical eruption and volumetric development. Absence of the lateral incisor did not significantly contribute to either canine angulation or its vertical eruption on the cleft-side. Higher angulation of the canine on the cleft side indicates a higher risk of future canine impaction. Presence or absence of the lateral incisor did not significantly affect canine angulation or its vertical eruption. Increased age and children born with total cleft lip and palate imply a higher risk of angulated canines on the cleft side.

Objective The ideal surgical protocol and technique for primary closure of unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) are unclear, and the development of velopharyngeal insufficiency and fistulae following primary repair is common. This study aimed to determine the long-term surgical burden of care in terms of secondary surgeries, defined as speech-correcting surgeries (SCSs) and fistula repair, in a UCLP population, and to compare outcomes of various surgical protocols. Design Retrospective, single-center review. Participants The study comprised 290 nonsyndromic children with complete UCLP. Different surgical protocols entailing both single-stage and 2-stage approaches were compared, and the surgical outcome was analyzed at the time of alveolar bone grafting (ABG) and post ABG. Results Altogether 110 children (37.9%) underwent secondary surgery by the time of ABG. Of the total population 25.9% (n  =  75) had undergone SCS and 17.2% (n  =  50) had undergone fistula repair. The respective incidences at follow-up (post ABG) were 30.3% (n  =  88) and 18.9% (n  =  55). Median age at ABG was 9.8 years and at follow-up was 16.3 years. No significant difference emerged in terms of secondary surgeries between the techniques and protocols applied at primary repair. However, some differences occurred regarding the location of fistulae; the single-stage procedure had more anterior fistula repairs, particularly connected to a perialveolar fistula. Conclusions Although the outcome differences between the surgical protocols were small, indicating that none of the treatment protocols was clearly superior to another, attention was drawn to the favorable outcomes of the single-stage protocol.

Objective To compare the use of a computer simulation by Mimics software and the water displacement method as means for measurement of alveolar cleft volume on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) data. Design Prospective study. Settling Institutional research. Patients Patients with unilateral complete cleft lip and palate (UCCLP) who would undergo alveolar bone grafting. Interventions CBCT images of twenty patients with UCCLP were included in the study. In the first method, the water displacement method was adopted to measure volume of plasticine filled in the alveolar cleft imprinted on 3D printed model of maxilla. In the second method a volumetric assessment function in Mimics software was adopted to measure volume of 3D virtual model of alveolar cleft constructed from CBCT images. A comparison on the alveolar cleft volumes derived from the two methods was assessed using the statistical paired t-test. Main Outcome Measure The paired-t test showed no statistically significant difference between alveolar cleft volumes measured by the two methods ( P = 0.075). Results Mean volume of the alveolar cleft measured by the water displacement method was 1.03 ± 0.31 ml whereas by the computer simulation using Mimics software the value was 1.00 ± 0.31 ml. The mean difference between the two methods was 0.03 ± 0.08 ml. Conclusion The computer simulation by Mimics software as a means for measurement of alveolar cleft volume on CBCT data is as accurate as the measurement by the water displacement method.