*3.1.2 Malformed cleft-sided lateral incisor*

The permanent lateral incisor located on the cleft side is also the most malformed tooth in the entire permanent dentition, often presenting with some degree of deformity in size and shape [45, 52]. It is frequently found to be microdontic or peg-shaped [44, 47, 50, 53]. Suzuki et al. found the majority of cleft-sided permanent lateral incisors to be of conical type [49]. Other less common variations include T-shaped lateral incisor or presence of a palatal cusp [44, 53, 54].

Some authors have proposed that malformed or missing lateral incisors are possible microforms of cleft lip and/or palate [55–57] but this proposal has also been disputed by others [58–60] who found the frequency of lateral incisor anomaly to be the same in cleft families and non-cleft families.
