title: [The bone regeneration in cleft palate after surgical repair (a prelimilnary observation)].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the bone healing situation of the cleft palate after surgical procedure, and discuss the factors affecting it.
  
  
  METHODS
  20 patients with repaired cleft palate were examined by CT scan coronally. The result of images were observed and the position, shape and quality of bone bridge were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Formation of bone bridge was found in 13 cleft gaps out of 20 patients (65%), the sex ratio among patients with bone bridge was 1:1; there was no obvious difference between unilateral and bilateral cleft palate. Considering the operation age with the bone formation, the highest percentage of bone bridge formation fell into the group of 4-6 years old, and the most occurring regions were in premolar and anterior part of molar area.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There can be new bone bridge regeneration in bone gap after palate surgery, and the bone formation may have some relationship with the operation age and surgical technique.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Cleft Palate, Peking University School of Stomatology, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010012:Osteogenesis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed