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Cleft Lip and Palate: Developmental Stages and Corrective Options

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What Is Cleft Lip?

A cleft lip is a common facial deformity and birth defect that develops between the 4th and 7th weeks of pregnancy, when an infant’s face is shaping. It occurs when the soft tissue of the face and mouth does not fuse together correctly. As the infant’s cells grow toward each other, some don’t properly fuse together. This can create a visual opening or rift in a newborn’s face around the mouth and nose. In severe cases, the opening or rift can extend upward from the lip toward the nose. The cleft lip often coincides with a cleft palate as well.

What Is Cleft Palate?

The palate is the roof of the mouth. It develops between the 6th and 9th weeks of pregnancy to keep the functions of the mouth and nose independent for proper breathing and digestion. When cells don’t combine to fully connect the bone and muscle of the palate, an opening can form.

Challenges of Untreated Clefts

These can complicate things for the children, causing problems with speech, facial appearance, suckling, and increasing the potential for deafness and even psychological issues. It is important to have the surgery as early as possible. Untreated cleft lips can lead to more common ear infections, speech problems, and oral infections. It is perfectly natural for parents to be worried about their child, particularly those with a cleft lip.

Treatment and Corrective Surgery

The good news is that there is treatment available. Thankfully, there is corrective surgery available that can restore full functionality and improve the patient’s outward appearance. The surgery used to correct a cleft lip is known as a cheiloplasty. This is done under general anesthesia when the baby is typically around three months old. The outcome of the surgery is closing the cleft and improving the symmetry of the child’s face, nose, and upper lip.

In some circumstances, children may require additional surgeries if the cleft is a particularly serious one. Speech surgery may be used to correct developmental issues following the cheiloplasty. An alveolar bone graft may be needed to repair gums, so the permanent teeth have proper supportive tissue. This usually occurs when the children are between seven and nine years old. Nose surgery might be needed when the cleft is serious enough to reach the nasal cavity. These are done to help shape the nostrils and nose during childhood.

Benefits of Cleft Lip & Palate Treatment

Treatment for a cleft lip or palate has the following major goals:

  • Close facial gaps (including mouth and nostril deformities).
  • Improve muscle function by aligning the upper jaw.
  • Provide patient a better sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

Why Consult An Oral Surgeon About Cleft & Lip Palate Correction?

A cleft can be diagnosed through an ultrasound, immediately after birth, or even years later, but treatment will vary depending on a patient’s cleft, age, and health. Even with treatment, one in five cleft repairs will split, forming a new opening and requiring further oral and maxillofacial surgery. It’s absolutely crucial to find an oral surgeon you can trust. Our oral surgeons can perform predictable procedures to safely repair the cleft palate or cleft lip.

Come see us today to get more information regarding cleft Lip. We can help restore mouth functionality.

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