Usage of Hotz plates in patients with cleft lip, alveolus, and palate.

Abstract

We started to use Hotz plates in 1995 and have noticed that some patients cannot continue to use the plate until 1 year old. The purpose of this study was to survey the usage of Hotz plates in patients with cleft lip, alveolus, and palate. The subjects consisted of 48 patients with unilateral cleft lip, alveolus, and palate. They were classified into a usage group (39 subjects) or a discontinued group (9 subjects) depending on whether they continued to use the plate until 1 year old. The results were as follows: There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in age at initial usage of the plate, the width of the alveolar cleft at the time of initial usage, the width of the palatal cleft at the time of initial usage and at 1 year old, and the number of erupted teeth at 1 year old. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups in the width of alveolar cleft at 1 year old. The proportion of subjects having a 0 mm width of the alveolar cleft at 1 year old was significantly greater in the discontinued group than in the usage group. We conclude that patients who cannot continue to use the plate have a narrow alveolar cleft.