The Concordance of Alveolar Bone Deficiency with Severity of Lip Deformity in Microform Cleft Lip

Background: We assessed the anthropometric measurements of bone defects in microform cleft lip. Methods: The external phenotypes of the nose and upper lip, and alveolar bone defects in microform cleft lip were measured anthropometrically using multimodal tools and clinical photographs. The height and thickness of the alveolar bone, paranasal hypoplasia, and alveolar volume were measured on CT. Results: Our study included 23 patients with unilateral microform cleft lip. The mean age of the patients was 13.84 +/- 12.35 years (range: 1.25-50 years). Alveolar height (C1), thickness (C2), and paranasal hypoplasia (C3) were evaluated on 3D CT scans. The mean differences in C1, C2, and C3 between the cleft and normal sides were 5.52 +/- 3.76 mm (p < 0.0001), 1.96 +/- 2.8 mm (p < 0.0001), and 5.57 +/- 9.72 mm (p < 0.0001), respectively. There was bony deficiency at the cleft side of the alveolar bone and paranasal area. In volumetric analysis, the means of the normal and cleft-side alveolar bone volumes were 6579 +/- 2200 mm(3) and 6528 +/- 2255 mm(3), respectively. The mean difference in alveolar bone volume between the cleft and normal sides was 51.05 +/- 521 mm(3) (p < 0.0001). C1 was positively correlated with lip height (F2; correlation coefficient (r) = 0.564, p = 0.0051) and dry vermilion thickness (F3; r = -0.543, p = 0.0074). The linear regression test revealed significant correlations between C1 and F2 (r(2) = 0.318, p = 0.0051), and F3 (r(2) = 0.295, p = 0.0074). However, there was no correlation between alveolar height and nasal anthropometric measurements. Conclusions: Alveolar bone deficiency was concordant with the severity of soft tissue in microform cleft lip.