Background Dental and oral anomalies are among the most common long‐term side effects of childhood cancer therapy. Aim To evaluate chemotherapy as a risk factor for caries lesions and gingivitis in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with the ALL IC‐BFM 2009 chemotherapy protocol. Design A retrospective cohort study was designed. Clinical records of 23 paediatric patients with ALL exposed to chemotherapy in the Regional Hospital in Valdivia, Chile, and 46 unexposed patients assessed every 3 months for 24 months were analyzed. The data on gender, age, index of the number of decayed, missing, or filled teeth, and the presence of gingivitis were recorded (Mann–Whitney U test and logistic regression analysis, p ≤ .05). Results A significantly greater frequency of gingivitis (69.57%; p < .002) and a mean of new caries lesions were observed in children treated with chemotherapy than in the unexposed children (p < .01). The chemotherapy protocol presented a relative risk of 2.15 (95% CI = 1.22 ‐ 2.66; p = .01) for new caries lesions and 2.29 (95% CI = 1.76 ‐ 3.82; p = .002) for gingivitis. Conclusion The ALL IC‐BFM 2009 chemotherapy protocol in patients with ALL is a risk factor for new caries lesions and gingivitis.

Assessment of midpalatal suture maturation is crucial before deciding which type of maxillary expansion technique will be performed to treat transverse discrepancies. In 2013, Angelieri et al. proposed a new method to evaluate midpalatal maturation using cone-beam computed tomography. The aim of this study was to systematically identify, evaluate, and provide a synthesis of the existing literature about this new method and to rigorously assess the methodological quality of these articles. A bibliographic search was carried out using PubMed, Cochrane Library, SciELO, LILACS, Web of Science, and Scopus using the terms midpalatal suture, cranial sutures, palate, maturation, interdigitation, ossification, maxillary expansion, evaluation, assessment, and assess. Quality assessment was performed using the Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies tool developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Hence, 56 articles were obtained, of which only 10 met the selection criteria. We could not include any of the data into an analysis because of the large variation of the data collected and high methodological heterogeneity found among studies. Of all the studies included, 10% had poor quality, 70% fair, and 20% good quality, respectively. Even though age and sex play a role in midpalatal suture obliteration, there is a poor correlation between these variables. Thus, every patient should be assessed individually before choosing the best protocol for maxillary expansion. The midpalatal suture maturation method has the potential to be used for diagnostic purposes, but clinicians should be cautious of routinely using it because an extensive training and calibration program should be performed prior.

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of midpalatal maturational stages in a Chilean urban sample of adolescents, post-adolescents and young adults, associated with chronological age and sex, by assessing CBCT scan images. Tomographic images in axial sections of the midpalatal sutures from 116 adolescents and young adults (61 females and 55 males, 10–25 years old) were classified according to their morphologic characteristics in five maturational stages (A, B, C, D and E), as proposed by Angelieri et al. The sample was divided into three groups: adolescents, post-adolescents and young adults. Three previously calibrated examiners (radiologist, orthodontist and general dentist) analyzed and classified the images. Stages A, B and C were considered to be an open midpalatal suture, and D and E were considered to be a partially or totally closed midpalatal suture. The most frequent stage of maturation was D (37.9%), followed by C (24%) and E (19.6%). The possibility of finding closed midpalatal sutures in individuals of 10 to 15 years was 58.4%, and in subjects aged 16 to 20 and 21 to 25 years, it was 51.7% and 61.7%, respectively. In males, Stages D and E were present in 45.4%; for females, this prevalence was 68.8%. Individual assessment of the midpalatal suture in each patient is of crucial importance before making the clinical decision of which is the best maxillary expansion method. Due to the extensive calibration and training required, it is advisable to always request a report from a radiologist. Individual evaluation with 3D imaging is recommended because of the great variability observed in the ossification of midpalatal sutures in adolescents, post-adolescents and young adults.

The evaluation of the maturation of the midpalatal suture is highly important before making the clinical decision on whether to correct a transverse discrepancy in a conventional or surgical way. For this purpose, there are methods such as hand and wrist analysis, evaluation of maturation of the cervical vertebrae, and evaluation by means of occlusal radiographs. The main objective of this systematic review is to identify in the current literature the use of new methods and technologies to evaluate the maturation of the midpalatal suture before performing maxillary expansion. A bibliographic search was carried out using PubMed, Cochrane Library, SciELO, LILACS, Web of Science and Scopus using the terms midpalatal suture, cranial sutures, palate, maturation, interdigitation, ossification, maxillary expansion, evaluation, assessment and assess. The 119 articles were obtained, of which only 7 meet the selection criteria, which describe qualitative, quantitative and semiquantitative evaluation methods. During the last few years, due to advances in technology and science, various promising methods and techniques have been proposed for the evaluation of median palatal suture maturation. The quality of the available evidence is not enough to support the use of any one of these methods on their own. We recommend that clinicians use multiple diagnostic methods for an objective assessment of the maturation of the midpalatal suture, to guide them in their clinical decisions.