Acccording to doctors at a specialty clinic in Austin, TX, treating a cleft lip and palate takes many years and usually many surgical procedures through a patient’s life. The usual sequence of surgical treatment includes the following:
- Fabrication of the dental appliances from birth that allows a seal from the mouth to the nose and allows the patient to suckle and thrive with nourishment.
- The repair of the cleft lip, usually at six months of age.
- The closure of the cleft and the palate at approximately one year of age.
- The repair of the cleft in the upper jaw when the child is about eight or nine years of age.
- The correction of the altered bite with use of orthodontic treatment starting at about seven years of age and continuing through the teenage years.
- The correction of the nose and the lip is needed to improve the aesthetics of the structures and the possibility of the corrective jaw surgery to align and repair the upper and the lower jaws.
Speech therapy may also be needed.
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