Was your child born with a cleft lip or cleft palate? While it’s not common knowledge, there’s a specialized way to help your child: craniofacial orthodontic treatment. This focused approach treats birth defects of the jaws and teeth, such as cleft lip and palate. It works along with surgical intervention to correct these conditions earlier in your baby’s life.
Cleft lip and palate are among the most common birth conditions. But if left untreated, they may lead to serious health problems. Fortunately, craniofacial orthodontics helps prevent future complications and sets the stage for healthy growth and development.
Understanding Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate
A cleft lip or palate results when a split, called a cleft, forms in the baby’s upper lip or roof of the mouth during fetal development. In most cases, we can notice them right away at birth.
Sometimes, a cleft forms in the muscles of the soft palate toward the back of the mouth beneath the tissue lining. This is called a submucous cleft palate. These may go undetected until speech or feeding issues appear later in the child’s life.
Depending on how severe the cleft lip or palate is, your child might have the following symptoms:
- Difficulty feeding
- Ear infections, which may cause hearing loss
- Problems developing teeth correctly
- Difficulty with speech
These may sound scary, but early intervention helps prevent more severe complications. By treating cleft lip and cleft palate early, you’ll help your child’s oral development.
How Craniofacial Orthodontic Treatment Helps Your Child
At Orthodontists Associates of Western New York, we specialize in treating cleft lip and palate using craniofacial orthodontic treatment. Since every baby’s cleft palate is different, we personalize treatment plans for every child we see.
Throughout care, we coordinate with plastic surgeons who specialize in craniofacial repairs to develop a comprehensive treatment plan. Drs. Hietanen & Dusel proudly serve on the nationally recognized Craniofacial Team at Golisano Children’s Hospital, an ACPA-approved center specializing in cleft lip and palate care.
Care as Your Child Grows
When you come in for a free consultation, we will show you how to effectively clean your child’s teeth. In some cases, we may recommend a special tool called a Toothette® to help.
Most children need surgical intervention in the first year of their life. Typically, specialists perform lip repair at 3-6 months and palate repair at 9-18 months. Our role at this stage is to help guide the growth of the child’s teeth and jaws. We do this by using special dental appliances to help structure the palate or reshape the nostrils.
As your child grows, they could need a second surgery between the ages of 8 and 12. If this is the case, a specialist will perform a bone graft, repairing holes in your child’s bone structure and filling in the upper gums. Around this time, we may use orthodontic tools like palatal expanders to widen the jaw. We may also use other orthodontic solutions to correct bite issues.
At Orthodontists Associates of Western New York, we promote early intervention, especially in treating cleft palate and lip. When we treat your child’s cleft palate early on, we can more easily make corrections and prevent complications.
We don’t charge for any consultations until treatment begins. It costs you nothing to learn the roadmap for treating your child’s cleft palate.
Learn More About Craniofacial Orthodontic Treatment
Cleft lip and palate are common birth defects, but they can cause serious problems for your child if left unaddressed. Thankfully, they’re also highly treatable with craniofacial orthodontic treatment and surgical care. When we provide craniofacial orthodontics, we work alongside surgical specialists to help correct all parts of the birth condition.
At Orthodontists Associates of Western New York, we are ready to help your child with early intervention! If you’re ready to take the next step, we invite you to book a free consultation at one of our offices across the Buffalo area. We have locations in Hamburg, Lancaster, Niagara Falls, Olean, Orchard Park, Dunkirk, and East Aurora.
