Different kinds of clefts: Cleft of the soft palate, cleft of the hard palate and soft palate, unilateral cleft and bilateral cleft.
What is a cleft lip: A cleft lip a is a opening in the upper lip on one or both sides. Unilateral cleft is just one side and bilateral is both. The opening of the left can go all the way into the nose (usually indicating there is a cleft palate) or it can stop half way up the lip.
What is cleft palate: Is a split in the roof of the mouth. It can involve the hard and soft palate depending on the cleft.
Soft and Hard palate:
: 
The roof of the mouth is known as the palate. The hard palate is the front part of the roof of the mouth, and the soft palate is the back part. Because there is a split in one or both of the palate ear infections and hearing loss is common. Both treatable. Fluid builds up in the ears from eating and normal mucus build up that may need to be drained by tubes. It is also very common for cleft kids to not have a uvula because it is split on both sided of there mouth from the cleft.
What causes cleft: Doctors can't quite give an exact reason as to why a cleft happens. It can be just random or it can be linked with problems with genes passed down from one or both parents, drugs, viruses, or other toxins can all cause these birth defects. Cleft lip and palate may occur along with other syndromes or birth defects. Pollution is known to be a big factor in cleft lip and palate. Also positioning of the baby in the womb when the mouth is developing can cause a cleft. They say if the head is down, pressing there chin to there chest it can push the tongue up and get into the way of developing the palate and lip.
How often does this happen in the United States: 1 out of 700 babes in the United States are born with a cleft lip and palate. More boys than girls are born with a cleft lip and palate but more girls than boys are born with just a cleft palate.
Treatment: Surgery, at the appropriate age can repair a cleft. In fixing a cleft you will need a team made of the following people.
- Craniofacial plastic surgeon
- Otolaryngologist, an ear, nose and throat specialist
- Audiologist
- Pediatric Orthodontists
- Pediatric Dentist
- Speech Therapist
- Social worker
No comments:
Post a Comment