Cleft lip or cleft palate is openings or splits in the upper lip, the roof of the mouth, lip or both. Cleft lip and palate results when facial structures that are developing in an unborn baby don’t close completely.

Cleft lip and palate are among the most common birth defects. They most commonly occur as isolated birth defects but are also associated with many inherited genetic conditions/ symptoms.

Cleft palate cause problems with dental development, speech, hearing and eating .

Symptoms

• Usually a cleft in the lip/ palate is immediately identifiable at birth.
• A split in the lip and roof of the mouth (palate) that affects one or both sides of the face.
• A split in the lip that appears as only a small notch in the lip or extends from the lip through the upper gum and palate in to the bottom of the nose.
• Less commonly a cleft occurs only in the muscles of the soft palate (sub mucinous cleft palate) which are at the back of the mouth and covered by the mouth’s lining.