DOI: 10.3390/app16136495 ISSN: 2076-3417

Dental Agenesis in Repaired Craniofacial Cleft Patients: Influence of Cleft Type, Sex, and Skeletal Pattern

Algen Isufi, Irina Isufi, Aida Meto, Adela Alushi, Michele Tepedino

Background: Congenital tooth agenesis is a common dental anomaly in individuals with orofacial clefts and may be related not only to cleft type but also to skeletal growth characteristics. This study aimed to investigate whether the number of congenitally missing permanent teeth is associated with cleft type, sex, and sagittal and vertical skeletal patterns in non-syndromic cleft patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 60 patients aged ≥17 years (36 males, 24 females; mean age 19.5 ± 1.8 years) with surgically repaired cleft lip and/or palate, based on clinical records collected over a long-term follow-up period. Sagittal (Class I, II, III) and vertical (normal, deep bite, open bite) skeletal patterns were extracted from available orthodontic records based on routine cephalometric assessment. The number of congenitally missing permanent teeth, excluding third molars, was recorded. Statistical analysis included non-parametric tests and Poisson regression. Results: The distribution of missing teeth deviated significantly from normality according to the Shapiro–Wilk test (p < 0.001). In the Poisson regression model, sex (p = 0.011) and cleft type (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with the number of congenitally missing teeth, whereas sagittal skeletal pattern (p = 0.338) and vertical skeletal pattern (p = 0.281) were not significant predictors. Conclusions: In this retrospective record-based analysis, the number of congenitally missing teeth appeared most consistently associated with cleft type, while sex showed a model-dependent association in the adjusted regression analysis.

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