History of Intercenter Collaborative Studies for the Treatment of Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate in the World: Focusing on Dental Arch Relationships

Treatment for patients with cleft lip and palate requires long-term team care provided by related specialties, such as surgery, orthodontics, and speech-language therapy. In order to improve the treatment quality and work toward standardization of treatment, it is important to compare treatment outcomes scientifically and to understand the differences in treatment strategy through intercenter collaborative studies. Such studies are also advantageous for securing the number of cases to evaluate the effect of specific treatments. For these reasons, intercenter collaborative studies such as Eurocleft, Dutchcleft, Americleft, and Scandcleft have been performed since the 1980s around the world. In Japan, such studies commenced in the 2000s, and the Japancleft Committee was included in the Japanese Cleft Palate Association in 2009, and is continuing its activities. <br>The significance of intercenter collaborative research is not to rank institutions based on treatment outcomes, but to understand different treatment protocols, share information through scientifically evaluated treatment outcomes, and look for safe and reliable treatment strategies with less burden. This paper reviews the history of intercenter collaborative studies in the world and in Japan, focusing on dental arch relationships. Future prospects are also discussed.