Cleft lip and/or palate(CLP) is the most common congenital deformity in the craniofacial region. For a practical public health system for these patients it is necessary to have an understanding on the prevalence of CLP. However, it was difficult to estimate the exact number of CLP patients due to problems in sample selection, higher miscarriage and still birth rate, difficulty in classification, and adoptions to foreign countries. Therefore this study, was to estimate the prevalence of CLP and the rate of orthodontic treatment, which is usually necessary in cleft lip and/or palate patients. The samples consisted of 218,322 Korean male adults from Seoul, Kwangju, Taegu and Pusan, all born in 1979. The screening method for recognizing the CLP patients was proceeded in steps and the results are as follows.
1. The prevalence of cleft lip and/or palate in Korean male adults born in 1979 was 0.65 out of the 1000 samples.
2. In the anteroposterior aspect of the 1000 samples, the prevalence of cleft lip, cleft lip and palate, and cleft palate was
0.26, 0.36 and 0.03 respectively.
3. In the transverse aspect of the 1000 samples, the prevalence of left, right and bilateral cleft was 0.35, 0.16, 0.12 respectively. The cleft in the left showed a much higher prevalence than in the right, while bilateral cleft showed a
lower prevalence than unilateral cleft.
4. The orthodontic treatment rate of Korean male adults among cleft lip and/or palate patients was 35%, and it was in the order of cleft lip and palate, cleft lip, and cleft palate, being 67%, 29% and 29% respectively. The orthodontic treatment rate in patients with the more severe cleft lip and palate was higher than in patients solely having cleft lip or cleft palate.
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