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Cleft Lip and Palate Research
Patient Profile: Kyra
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Mollie Carlson is just one of the children who received care for cleft lip and palate at Shriners Hospitals for Children®. Today, Mollie is in college studying communication disorders, and hopes to become a speech-language pathologist. Photo courtesy of Michelle Moore Photography. |
Providing Care for Cleft Lip and Palate at Shriners Hospital for Children®
Cleft lip and palate deformities occur when the tissue that forms the upper lip and roof of the mouth fail to join together before birth. The condition is associated with alterations in speech, hearing and facial growth. Cleft lip and palate is corrected by reconstructive surgery and multidisciplinary therapies.
Approximately 5,000 children are born each year in the U.S. with cleft-associated deformities. In fact, facial clefts are one of the most common birth defects in the U.S. Children with facial clefts have various interrelated problems involving the brain; the development of the skull and facial bones; the structure of the ear and the ability to hear; the teeth and the ability to chew and eat; and the mouth and nose and the ability to breathe and speak. Reconstruction must be staged with the child’s growth in order to restore the facial skeleton and functionality as completely as possible.
A Common Birth Defect
Despite the frequency of its occurrence, and the severity of the deformities, care for patients with cleft lip and palate can be difficult to obtain. For this reason, Shriners Hospitals for Children® added cleft lip and palate to the health care system’s service lines in 2005. Treating cleft and palate problems is a long-term commitment; children require care from birth to adolescence, which fits well in the health care system’s mission of providing family-centered care until the patient’s 18th birthday.
Care for cleft lip and palate is currently available at the Shriners Hospitals for Children® located in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Los Angeles, Northern California, Portland and Springfield. Multidisciplinary services include surgery, orthodontics, hearing, speech and psychological therapies, and additional supports.
Shriners Hospitals for Children® has also partnered with the Humanitarian Foundation of the Grottoes of North America, a Masonic-affiliated fraternal organization. Children with special needs are often excluded from normal childhood dental care, which is important in the successful treatment of cleft lip and palate, and the Foundation will provide appropriate patients who need cleft lip and palate surgery with financial assistance for routine dental care. The partnership has benefited more than 50 Shriners Hospitals for Children® patients.
Cleft lip and palate is a common and serious condition. Shriners Hospitals for Children® is committed to improving care for children with this condition through a comprehensive, coordinated program of clinical excellence, teaching and research.