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A
cleft occurs when certain body parts and structures do
not fuse together during the development of the fetus.
Clefts can involve the lip, the roof of the mouth, and the soft
tissue in the back of the mouth.
Clefts occur very early in the development of the fetus when
many women do not even know they are pregnant. The crucial time
for head and face development of a fetus is between the 3rd
and 9th weeks of pregnancy.
Clefts are the number one birth
defect in many developing countries.
Cleft Lips
Cleft
lips come in a broad range of
severity and disfigurement. Some can be as mild as a slight notch
in the red part of the upper lip to a severe cleft lip involving
total separation of the lip all the way up into the nose. Cleft
lips can involve a single cleft (which is known as a unilateral
cleft), or a double cleft (bilateral cleft). They always occur
on the upper lip.
Cleft Palates
Cleft
palates can range from a tiny little hole in back of the roof
of the mouth to a major cavity that runs all the way from
the front to the back of the mouth. A cleft palate can occur
on one side or both sides of the upper mouth.
Causes
The exact causes of cleft lip and palate are not known. But
most experts agree that these are “multi-factorial” and
may include a genetic predisposition as well as environmental
issues such as drug and alcohol use, smoking, maternal illness,
infections and lack of vitamin B folic acid.
A woman is at a higher risk for having a baby with a cleft if
she is a teenager or over 35 years old and is exposed to teratogens,
which include medications, chemicals, infectious diseases and
environmental agents that can disrupt the normal development
of a fetus.
Incidence of Clefts
It is estimated that one child in every
700 is born with a cleft. For India, this translates
into over 35,000 babies born each year with this condition.
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