Are teeth close to the cleft more susceptible to periodontal disease?

Objective: To evaluate whether teeth close to the cleft area present higher prevalence and severity of periodontal disease than teeth in other regions.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies, University of São Paulo.

Patients: There were 400 individuals with complete unilateral or bilateral cleft lip and palate, aged 15 to 49 years, without any previous periodontal treatment.

Main Outcome Measures: All clinical parameters were evaluated in six sites for each tooth. The arithmetic means were calculated for each sextant.

Results: Of the sextants, 86.75% presented means of probing depth smaller than or equal to 3 mm. No sextant exhibited means of probing depth greater than or equal to 6 mm. There was a statistically significant difference (p < .001) in probing depth according to age, types of cleft, and sextant; 95.87% of sextants presented mean attachment levels smaller than or equal to 3 mm. The sextant with cleft did not present higher means of probing depth, clinical attachment level, plaque index, and gingival index. There was gingival bleeding in 99.08% of the sample and plaque in 97.40%. The type of cleft was not an important factor influencing the prevalence of periodontal disease. Age seems to be an important factor influencing the prevalence and severity of periodontal disease for all aspects investigated.

Conclusions: Periodontal disease in individuals with clefts occurred in a similar manner as observed in other populations. The presence of the cleft does not seem to increase the prevalence of the disease.