Cleft Palate
By Annika Tuuling
Signs and Symptoms
Description- Opening in the roof of the mouth and/or lip.
Speech disorder, stuttering, impaired voice, physical deformity, difficulties eating, hearing loss, mouth breathing, nasal congestion, snoring
Speech disorder, stuttering, impaired voice, physical deformity, difficulties eating, hearing loss, mouth breathing, nasal congestion, snoring
Genetics/Inheritance
Diagnosis- You can tell if your baby has a cleft palate if there is an opening on the roof of their mouth and/or lip.
There is no single known cause, rather there are multiple possible contributing factors. About %15 of cases are likely a side effect of some other birth defect, other cases are likely mutations. It's not known for sure if it can be inherited. It's possible that certain medications and/or harmful substances can contribute to this defect.
Management/Treatment
Surgery will take care of it with minimal scarring if needed. Speech therapy will help with any speaking disorders.
Statistics
Cleft palates & lips (together) occur twice as often in boys than in girls, while cleft palates (with no cleft lips) occur slightly more often in girls.
1 in 600 US babies are born with some sort of cleft.