Cleft lip and palate, which is often referred to as harelip and lupus, is very common, and its incidence rate is 1.625 per 1,000 in China, which means that at least 20,000 newborns with cleft lip and palate are born in China every year. Affected children usually present with unilateral or bilateral cleft upper lip or palate, nasal collapse, etc. The impact of the child’s crippled appearance on the parents is obvious, and the subsequent feeding difficulties and a series of problems such as pneumonia and otitis media make many parents of children with cleft lip and palate initially overwhelmed and delay the best time for treatment.
I’m sure you’ve seen a child with cleft lip and palate and are saddened by it, but did you know? After comprehensive treatment, children with cleft lip and palate can recover like normal people. The current consensus in dentistry at home and abroad is that infants and children with cleft lip and palate should be treated with a comprehensive sequence of treatments, the first step of which is preoperative cleft lip and palate correction. The doctor will usually take a model of the child’s mouth and then make an orthotic device that fits the child, which the child can wear at home. The appliance is easy to remove and wear, easy to maintain hygiene, safe and painless, and requires only periodic review, usually for three months.
Pre-operative orthodontic treatment of cleft lip and palate can significantly improve the shape of the affected side of the nose, reduce the gap in the dental bed, improve feeding, and also greatly help with the eruption and alignment of teeth later. It can also effectively reduce the tension of the upper lip, creating favorable conditions for combined cleft lip and palate surgery in infancy, which can reduce the difficulty of surgery and increase its effectiveness. Pre-operative correction is best done within 3 months of the child’s birth, the earlier the result, the better; otherwise, as the child grows, the plasticity of its nasal cartilage decreases significantly and the result becomes worse.