Cephalometric radiographs of 3367 Japanese parents of orthodontic patients were examined to investigate the possible relationship between upper canine impaction and cleft of the lip, alveolus and palate. A total of 408 parents of patients with clefts were examined and 2959 parents of non-cleft patients served as a control group. Three upper canine impactions were found in 164 fathers in the cleft lip and palate subgroup. No canine impactions were found in any of the other cleft sub-groups. Three upper canine impactions were detected in 1448 fathers and 5 impactions were detected in 1511 mothers in the control groups. Lower canine impactions were not found in either the control or the cleft groups. It is concluded from the significantly higher incidence of upper canine impaction in the cleft group fathers that maxillary canine impaction may be a possible microform of cleft lip and palate.
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Takahama et al. (1982) studied this question.