Defining biomechanical principles in pre-surgical infant orthopedics in a real cleft finite element model

Abstract

Presurgical infant orthopedics (PSIO) is the first step in the treatment of cleft lip and palate (CLP) and is designed to approximate the cleft segments as effectively as possible before surgical reconstruction of the lip and palate. The biomechanical efficacy of different PSIO approaches in transferring molding forces to the CLP is unknown. This study aimed to define the biomechanical principles of competing PSIO techniques in a real cleft finite element (FE) model. Active intraoral (Latham), passive alveolar molding (PAM), and extraoral (DynaCleft) molding forces were virtually applied to a real cleft FE model. In the cleft region, PAM (P < 0.001) and Latham (P < 0.05) exerted significantly less stress than DynaCleft. Intraoral molding forces acted primarily at the site of the force initiation without being accompanied by high loads in the midface. PAM showed a tendency toward a better flow behavior of the molding forces than Latham. Extraoral molding transferred high stresses to the cleft, alveolar ridge, and midface. Intraoral passive molding was ultimately characterized by the highest biomechanical efficacy and showed the most favorable load distribution of all of the PSIO approaches considered in this study. Future research is needed to validate the findings against clinical data.

Keywords: Cleft lip; Cleft palate; Computer simulation; Finite element analysis; Nasoalveolar molding.