Photographs of study casts: An alternative medium for rating dental arch relationships in unilateral cleft lip and palate

Objective: To investigate the reliability of using photographs of study casts as an alternative to casts for rating dental arch relationships. Design: Repeated-measures study. Setting: Cleft Palate Center of the University Medical Center Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Patients: Records of children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) (n = 49) at the age of 9 years were included. Mean Outcome Measure(s): Statistics of intra- and interexaminer agreement. Results: No significant differences were found between the rating of dental casts and photographs of dental casts, using the Gosion Yardstick. Conclusions: Photographs of dental casts provide a consistent, reproducible method for rating dental arch relationships in patients with UCLP at the age of 9 years and provide a reliable alternative to the application of the Goslon Yardstick on dental casts.