Cleft palate repair without lateral relaxing incision

Background: The goals of successful palate repair include optimization of speech and feeding, avoidance of fistula formation, and mitigation of adverse maxillary growth. However, the effects of scar formation on maxillary growth have not been discussed in detail. Methods: Between November 2010 and December 2011, the palateplasty was performed for 24 patients with cleft palate (median age, 12 months; range, 11-18 months). In the velum, a symmetrical intravelar veloplasty with mucosal Z-plasty was performed on both the nasal and oral sides. In the hard palate, instead of lateral relaxing incisions, a 1-line mucoperiosteal incision along the cleft margins was designed with subperiosteal undermining in the entire palatine bone. The palatal mucoperiosteum was sutured together in the middle of the cleft, and the cleft was directly closed without lateral relaxing incisions. The patients were monitored for 6 months to 1.6 years. Results: None of the cases had issues concerning flap viability, and all palate repairs healed well. Postoperative results were satisfactory, without any complications such as dehiscence, perforation, or palatal fistula. Conclusions: The method presented in this article was effective, with successful palatal closure and without scar formation or mucosal defects along the alveolus. We conclude that minimum contracture of the hard palate was useful for not only mitigating adverse maxillary growth but also for orthodontics.