Use of Bauru Yardstick in Patients With Complete Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate at an Indian Center.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate dental arch relationship in treated bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP) cases at an Indian cleft center using the Bauru yardstick.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Digital photographs of the dental cast of 50 consecutively treated patients (28 males and 22 females) with nonsyndromic BCLP at an Indian cleft center were rated by 2 examiners as per the Bauru yardstick for the 12-year-old age group. The average age group was 12 ± 0.62 years. All cases were treated with same surgical protocol.

RESULTS: The inter-examiner agreement between the 3 examiners was found to be very high, with weighted kappa values ranging from 0.894 to 0.951. The intraexaminer agreement between the 2 examinations for all the examiners was also found to be very high, with weighted kappa values ranging from 0.894 to 0.931. Seventy-eight percent of patients were rated with a Bauru yardstick score of 1+2. In addition, 10% of patients were rated with a score of 3, 8% as 4, and 4% as 5. The overall Bauru yardstick score for the center was 2.36.

CONCLUSION: The protocol followed for the repair of BCLP cases by the center was found to be a good regimen in regard to the Bauru yardstick score.