Perceptual Speech Assessment after Maxillary Advancement Osteotomy in Patients with a Repaired Cleft Lip and Palate

BACKGROUND: Maxillary hypoplasia refers to a deficiency in the growth of the maxilla commonly seen in patients with a repaired cleft palate. Those who develop maxillary hypoplasia can be offered a repositioning of the maxilla to a functional and esthetic position. Velopharyngeal dysfunction is one of the important problems affecting speech after maxillary advancement surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of maxillary advancement on repaired cleft palate patients without preoperative deterioration in speech compared with non-cleft palate patients. METHODS: Eighteen patients underwent Le Fort I osteotomy between 2005 and 2011. One patient was excluded due to preoperative deterioration in speech. Eight repaired cleft palate patients belonged to group A, and 9 non-cleft palate patients belonged to group B. Speech assessments were performed preoperatively and postoperatively by using a speech screening protocol that consisted of a list of single words designed by Ok-Ran Jung. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to determine if there were significant differences between the preoperative and postoperative outcomes in each group A and B. And Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine if there were significant differences in the change of score between groups A and B. RESULTS: No patients had any noticeable change in speech production on perceptual assessment after maxillary advancement in our study. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between groups A and B. CONCLUSIONS: Repaired cleft palate patients without preoperative velopharyngeal dysfunction would not have greater risk of deterioration of velopharyngeal function after maxillary advancement compared to non-cleft palate patients.