Background: The ability to correctly assess the patient's bone age is an important element that allows correct diagnosis and proper planning of the start of orthodontic treatment.
Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate bone age in children with congenital craniofacial defects - primary and secondary palate cleft.
Material and methods: The analysis covered lateral head images of 45 patients 8 to 15 years old with different types of cleft (primary and secondary palate cleft, bilateral, right or left unilateral). The patients' bone age was assessed by means of the Cervical Stage method (CS). The correlation between the bone age and chronological age was defined with the division into male and female patients.
Results: The results showed the relationship between the skeletal age and chronological age by gender and cleft type (the differences between the types of clefts by gender were presented). The correlation rate between the values of variables was defined.
Conclusions: The chronological age of children with developmental craniofacial defects (primary and secondary palate cleft) in relation to the stages of skeletal development, indicates a difference of about one year in plus and that fact should be taken into account when choosing orthodontic treatment.