Evaluation for Malocclusion of 37 Japanese Patients with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate by Gaston Yardstick

Goslon Yardstick is regarded as a reliable method that is useful for evaluating the malocclusion in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate and used for retrospective comparative study among European cleft centers in recent years. In this study, we applied Goslon Yardstick to Japanese patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate, and investigated the reproducibility of this method and the factors which correlated with the results of the evaluation. The study models of 37 Japanese patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate in the Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Tokushima, were used in this study. Four experienced orthodontists independently graded 37 cases into five groups twice at an interval of one week; i, e, group 1 (excellent), group 2 (good), group 3 (fair), group 4 (poor), group 5 (very poor). The reproducibility of the Goslon scores were judged by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The correlation between the Goslon scores and the overbite and overjet of incisors, canines and first molars were determined as significant by the regression analysis and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The mean value of the Goslon scores for 37 cases (group 1: 1 case, group 2: 4 cases, group 3: 15 cases, group 4: 13cases and group 5: 4 cases) were 3.41±0.61. The intra-and interexaminers' Goslon score reproducibility was acceptably high. Goodness-of-fit of the simple regression analysis between the Goslon scores and the overjet of incisors were statistically significant (P<0.01). Selected parameters for the multiple regression analysis with the stepwise method were the overjet of incisors (P<0.01) and the overjet of canine of lesser segment (P<0.05). A significan t negative correlation by means of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was observed between Goslon score and the overjet of incisors (P<0.01) as well as the overjet of canine of lesser segment (P<0.05).<BR>The results of the present study suggest that the Goslon Yardstick is reliable and useful even in the evaluation of malocclusion in Japanese patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate.