Cleft team strategy and caries experience in patients with a cleft lip and/or palate, a multicentre study

Background Most cleft teams in The Netherlands have a paediatric dentist as a permanent team member, but differences persist in patients receiving general or specialised dental care in-between team visits. The current study aims to find out if different strategies regarding dental care result in different caries experience and restorative care levels of cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) patients. Methods The cleft team of the Amsterdam University Medical Center, presented as Team Spec, refers all CL/P patients at age one to specialised dental care. The majority of CL/P patients treated in the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, receive dental care from a general dentist, Team Gen. Data on decayed teeth (dt), missing teeth (mt), filled teeth (ft), sum dmft and restorative care level for the primary dentition of CL/P patients were compared with independent t-tests. Negative binomial hurdle regression and generalised linear models were used to correct for age, gender and cleft type. No comparison of the costs of both strategies was made. Results The restorative care level of Team Spec (51.50%) was significantly better than Team Gen (29.31%) ( p < 0.001). Though sum dmft of both teams was comparable ( p = 0.32), patients in Team Spec had fewer missing teeth due to caries ( p = 0.01). Conclusion Receiving specialised dental care is beneficial for the restorative care level of CL/P patients.