Incisal overjet as an outcome measure in unilateral cleft lip and palate management

The Goslon Yardstick is a clinical tool used to rank dental study casts of persons with cleft lip and palate in the late mixed or early permanent dentition into one of five categories. It has been successfully used to investigate the outcomes of the surgical treatment of these anomalies as well as the effects of these deformities on untreated individuals. In this study, 40 study casts ranked by the Goslon Yardstick were digitized using a reflex metrograph. The overjet, overbite, and incisal angulation, and the crossbites of the canines and molars were calculated for each of the sets of casts. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the predictive value of these variables upon the Goslon scores. The overjet was found to explain 87% of the variance of the Goslon score (p <.0001). No other component had a significant predictive value. The range of overjet associated with the different Goslon scores was calculated from the regression equation. In conclusion, the advantages of using overjet as an indicator of outcome as an alternative to the Goslon Yardstick were discussed.