[Presurgical nasoalveolar molding in the treatment of infants with bilateral complete cleft lip and palate].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the curative effect of presurgical nasoalveolar molding (NAM) in the treatment of infants with bilateral complete cleft lip and palate (BCLP).

METHODS: Nine infants with BCLP were included. Presurgical alveolar molding was used to bring the premaxilla back into proper alignment with the lateral segments in the maxilla arch. Presurgical nasal molding produced tissue expansion of the short columella and corrected the nasal tip cartilages. Up to 5 months of active treatment was needed before lip repair. Student's t test was used for data analysis with SPSS 15.0 software package.

RESULTS: After presurgical NAM in 9 infants with BCLP, the posterior lateral alveolar segments were aligned while retracting the premaxilla, the premaxilla had been returned from 37.64mm to 29.94mm within the maxillary arch (P<0.01). The nasal alar base width was significantly reduced following NAM(P<0.05). The columella was nonsurgically lengthened from 1.13mm to 3.78mm(P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: In order to obtain satisfactory lip-nose configuration for BCLP, presurgical NAM is useful in cleft lip and palate team approach.