Cleft Lip And Palate, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

Cleft Lip

And Palate,

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2017 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Cleft Lip and Palate, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What The patient Need to Treat Cleft Lip and Palate)

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If the patient would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 amazon kindle books and 200 into Smashwords.com eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Cleft Lip and Palate (CLP)

I have probably seen many cases of cleft lip and palate during my childhood but I never bother about these abnormalities as they are just birth defects.

I was only at the medical school that I came across another medical student (the son of my Anatomy Professor) who had a repaired upper cleft lip.

It was obvious but it did not affect his studies in any way although he had a bit of speech fluency.

Later as a family doctor I came across a famous local television actress who also had a repaired upper cleft lip which was not as obvious as she properly knew about cosmetic camouflaging.

She was fluent in her Mandarin (Chinese) speech.

So the presence of cleft lips and palates are not so rare and disadvantageous as some people tend to believe.

What is a Cleft Lip and Palate?

Cleft lip and palate (CLP) are frequent birth defects that involve the upper lip and the roof of the mouth.

In spite of the fact that it is an isolated birth defect on its own, it is also linked with other syndromes or genetic conditions that are inherited.

Cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP) or orofacial clefts are cracks or openings on the mouth's roof or the upper lip or both mouths' roof and upper lip.

Failure of the facial structures to fully form totally in unborn babies gives rise to cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP) or orofacial clefts.

An opening or a break on the mouth's roof is called a cleft palate.

The mouths roof at the front which is hard (the hard palate) or the soft portion at the mouth's roof (the soft palate) may be affected with the cleft palate.

Cleft lip and palate (CLP) is a comparatively frequent, non-life-threatening abnormality which can have substantial effect on maternal bonding.

Its cause is complicated.

It can happen in isolation but may be linked with a chromosomal or teratogenic syndrome - a linked syndrome is thought to be present in around 30% of all patients with CLP.

While not a major cause of death in the developed world, it can result in poor feeding, failure to thrive and damaged survival in places where healthcare resources are poor.

CLP is a major cause of disease in places where corrective surgery is not present.

Children may feel social stigmatization, besides disorders with speaking and hearing.

The defects in CLP occur very early in embryonic development, and are believed to have a complicated cause, with genetic and environmental factors playing a part.

Isolated CLP does not pursue a simple Mendelian inheritance pattern, even though there is a small repeat occurrence risk.

It can be distressing to have a baby with a cleft but correction of cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP) or orofacial clefts is possible.

Normal function can be recovered in most children through surgeries and normal appearance obtained with minimal scarring.

Incidence

The most frequent forms of CLP result in interference of the tissue planes above the lip spreading to nostrils and palate (hard and