The dental health of cleft patients attending the 18-month-old clinic at a specialised cleft centre.

Background Cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) patients are at high risk of developing dental caries and show a greater prevalence of dental defects.Aims To establish if CLP patients who attended the 18-month clinic had local dentists, were complying with oral hygiene instruction and had stopped bottle-feeding as per guidelines.Design Data were collected retrospectively over a 24-month period in which a total of 62 records were assessed.Results Data analyses revealed that 42% of patients who attended the clinic were registered with a dentist. Fifty percent of patients had stopped bottle-feeding and 67% were brushing two or more times a day. Although all patients reviewed on the clinic were caries free, 57% presented with a dental anomaly (hypodontia, hypomineralisation or hypoplasia).Conclusion Despite CLP patients being at high risk for developing dental caries, results showed that significant proportions of parents/carers were not following national guidelines for prevention. This evaluation highlights that shared preventive support between primary care dentists and specialist cleft dentists is not being achieved in the majority of cases. It also recognises that parents of CLP patients are either not receiving, or are failing to implement, preventive care advice.