Prevalence of cleft lip and/or palate in Manitoban children and the early childhood caries burden experienced

Purpose: Examine the birth prevalence of cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CLP), Isolated cleft lip (CL) and isolated cleft palate (CP) in Manitoba between January 1 2008 and Dec 31 2019 and to establish the burden of early childhood caries (ECC) among these children. A retrospective chart review was conducted at the Manitoba Cleft Lip and Palate Program at the Health Science Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Children registered between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2019 with or without an underlying syndrome or significant medical history were included. Data was entered into a REDCap database including the following variables: sex, date of birth, postal code, type of orofacial clefting, whether GA was required to treat ECC, oral hygiene prior to treatment under GA, age at the time of GA, cost of treatment, and the type of treatment rendered. Cumulative scores of decayed, extracted, and filled primary teeth (dmft) were also calculated. The mean birth prevalence in Manitoba from 2008-2019 was 2.46 per 1000 live births for orofacial clefting, 1.33 per 1000 live births for CLP, 0.46 per 1000 per live births for isolated CP, and 0.41 per 1000 live births for isolated CL. The orofacial clefting in Manitoba was almost 1.5 times greater than the Canadian national average. A child with any form CLP, including those who were syndromic or presented with additional medical comorbidities between 12 – 59 months were 15 times more likely to require GA to treat their ECC than a healthy child. A CLP patient who had an associated syndrome was 32 times more likely to require GA to treat ECC than their aged matched healthy counterparts, and 3.5 times more likely to require GA to treat ECC than a CLP patient who is otherwise healthy. While the birth prevalence of CLP in Manitoba was relatively stable from 2008-2019, it has increased from 2 per 1000 live births in the period of 1948-1977 to 2.46 per 1000 live births. While the rates of general anesthetic (GA) to treat ECC is sign