Cleft lip and palate is a split in the lip and palate and is usually congenital. The two types of cleft lip and palate are cleft lip and cleft palate, with cleft palate being the most common and also cleft palate combined with cleft lip. Cleft palate is usually associated with varying degrees of bone tissue deformity, which affects articulation and feeding. Cleft palate deformity can cause serious impact on pronunciation, especially in learning and communication. Therefore, cleft lip and palate should be repaired in a timely manner.
The treatment process of cleft lip and palate repair is complex and involves many specialties, such as oral and maxillofacial surgery, plastic surgery, psychology, pediatrics, otorhinolaryngology and orthodontics. The more patients with cleft lip and palate are treated in a regular sequence, the less impact it will have on growth and speech. Cleft lip and palate surgery requires anesthesia, and the safety of performing cleft lip and palate surgery has increased with the development of medical technology and the safety of surgical anesthesia.
Commonly used cleft lip repair methods include the linear method, modified inferior triangular flap method, modified Millard method, Mohler method, etc. Commonly used cleft palate surgical approaches include the modified Lang procedure, the pear bone mucoperiosteal flap procedure, and the posterior pharyngeal wall mucoperiosteal flap repair procedure. The choice of these surgical procedures depends on the location of the cleft lip and palate split and is based on the patient’s own choice.
Cleft lip and palate requires surgical treatment to improve appearance, speech, occlusion and swallowing function.