ORIGINAL ARTICLE Dental arch relationship in 5-year- olds with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate after early alveolar bone grafting B. Offert P. Pazera J. Janiszewska-Olszowska K. Hozyasz C. Katsaros P. S. Fudalej Authors' affiliations: Barbara Offert, Piotr S. Fudalej, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland Pawel Pazera, Christos Katsaros, Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Joanna Janiszewska-Olszowska, Department of Orthodontics, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland Kamil Hozyasz, Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland Piotr S. Fudalej, Department of Orthodontics, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic; Department of Orthodontics and Craniofacial Biology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Cleft Palate Craniofacial Unit, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Correspondence to: Piotr S. Fudalej Department of Orthodontics and Craniofacial Biology Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre PO Box 9101 6500 HB Nijmegen The Netherlands E-mail: orthodontics@dent.umcn.nl Offert B., Pazera P., Janiszewska-Olszowska J., Hozyasz K., Katsaros C., Fudalej P.S. Dental arch relationship in 5-year-olds with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate after early alveolar bone grafting Orthod Craniofac Res 2012; 15: 117–123 Ó 2012 John Wiley & Sons A ⁄ S Structured Abstract Objective – To evaluate dental arch relationship in preschoolers with unilateral cleft lip and palate after early alveolar bone grafting (ABG). Materials and methods – Three raters blindly assessed the dental arch relationship with the GOSLON Yardstick (using a 5-point scale, from 1 – very good to 5 – very poor outcome) in Early-grafted group (27 boys and 15 girls; mean age = 5.2 years, SD 0.5) and Non-grafted group (17 boys and 12 girls; mean age = 5.8 years, SD 0.8). The groups differed regarding the age when ABG was performed: between 2 and 4 years (mean = 2.4, SD 0.6) in the Early-grafted group and after 9 years in the Non-grafted group. The strength of agreement of rating was evaluated with kappa statistics. Results – The intra- and inter-rater agreement was high (j > 0.800). The mean GOSLON score in the Early-grafted group was 2.72 and in the Non-grafted group )2.64. The distribution of the GOSLON grades in the Early-grafted group was: 54.8% had a score 1 or 2, 23.8% – 3, and 21.4% – 4 or 5; in the Non-grafted group, 38.0% subjects scored 1 or 2, 41.4% – 3, and 20.6% – 4 or 5 (p = 0.023). Conclusions – Early alveolar bone grafting carried out between the ages of 2 and 4 years was not found to negatively affect dental arch relationship by the age of 5 years. However, it is possible that such a negative effect could be found if a longer observation period (e.g. at age 10 years or age 15 years) was allowed. Key words: alveolar bone graft; cleft palate; dental arch relationship; early bone grafting; maxilla; surgery; treatment outcome; unilateral cleft lip and palate Introduction Alveolar bone grafting (ABG) is an integral element of the treatment of cleft lip and palate. Its aim is to provide support for Date: Accepted 13 February 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-6343.2012.01544.x Ó 2012 John Wiley & Sons A ⁄ S