What's a cleft lip and palate?

According to Dr. Jaime Andrés Jiménez, a dentist attached to Colsanitas, "the shape and size of the defects or cracks vary in each case.The baby can only have one slotted upper lip, that is to say one side or both, more often to the left and rarely to the center, but your palate may also be cracked in the front, back, or both. "

Cleft lip and palate are the most common facial malformations frequent in newborns. Although this condition generates functional and aesthetic badignments, it does not put life in danger. The antecedents in the baby's family, as well as the mother's exposure to substances and viruses that may affect her pregnancy, may be some of the causes. Here are five questions and their answers about cleft lip and palate.

Why do they arise? The causes of these conbad malformations are not clearly known. However, it is badociated with an interaction of genetic and environmental factors on which it is studied.

There are certain risk factors such as a history in the baby's family with these conditions, as well as the exposure of the mother to substances and viruses that may affect your pregnancy. It is estimated that in the world 1 out of 700 live births have it. In men, the cleft lip with or without cleft palate is more common than in women.

How does she affect children? The labio-palatal fissures produce a functional and aesthetic compromise, but are not badociated when they are presented separately with alterations in the cognitive functions of the child.

How is he diagnosed? During pregnancy, these malformations, especially the cleft lip, can be diagnosed by ultrasound at the 16th week of gestation. The cleft palate is often more difficult to identify with these images, but after birth is detected without requiring a specific confirmation test.

For parents, it can be painful to receive the news that their baby will be born with a facial malformation and a recurring attitude at home is attributed blame in the appearance of malformation or blame because they believe that they did something wrong during pregnancy, but there should be no place to feel guilty, because the causes are not clear

Seeking professional help: with the diagnosis before birth, you can start a process with future parents to solve the different concerns and doubts about what this condition entails for the baby's health and coordinate the specialized medical care for the treatment it starts in the first months of the life.