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Cleft Lip and Palate Defect
Cleft Lip and Palate is the commonest birth defect on the face and mouth. It occurs in 1 child for every 800 children being born in India. This defect occurs as a result of disturbance in normal development of the face in the mother’s womb. The cause for this birth defect may be genetic or environmental. Usually, one or more defective gene is responsible and therefore this defect tends to run in families. Environmental causes include intake of various drugs, maternal infection in early pregnancy particularly with viruses like rubella and herpes.
This particular birth defect can be easily repaired by carrying out necessary surgeries at the right time and the baby can be made to grow and function like any other child carrying out all normal activities. However, the complete rehabilitation spans over a long period of time till the child grows up to be an adult and may require multiple surgeries as well as intervention from other medical specialists.
The comprehensive management therefore of these deformities involves a number of medical specialists which includes the cleft surgeon, the speech therapist, the pediatrician, the pediatric anesthetist, the orthodontist, social worker, the ENT surgeon etc.. Hence it requires a dedicated team work as well as well established centres of treatment.
It may come as a shock to the parents when they see a child being born with a defect like cleft lip. However it is important to start appropriate treatment right from the time of birth overcoming the disappointment. It is important to counsel the parents particularly regarding the method of feeding these babies because they are unable to suck the mother’s breast and also have problems of regurgitation of the milk into the nose. In the absence of education regarding how to feed the baby, the baby is unable to gain weight and thrive.
The surgical repair of the cleft lip is carried out at the age of 3 months preferably. The repair of the cleft palate inside the mouth may be done at around 1 year of age. This is important so that the baby will have an intact functioning soft palate when he / she begins to start speaking. Additional procedures like alveolar bone grafting, rhinoplasty etc may be needed. In addition, the help of a speech therapist may be needed to achieve normal speech. The orthodontist will be required to correct problems with the teeth and the growth of the jaws. These children tend to have hearing problems and may require attention from an ENT surgeon.
In India, there are a large number of patients who are not treated at the right age as outlined above and grow up with these defects. However, these defects may be repaired at any age inorder to improve both the function as well as the appearance of these patients.
An organisation called the “Smile Train” was formed which has its headquarters in New York for the sole purpose of treating patients with these defects in the developing countries and has been active in many countries including India since the year 2000. In the past 5 years with the help of Smile Train more than 1,00,000 free surgeries have been carried out in more than 50 countries.
Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital a 200 bed multispeciality charitable, not for profit TRUST hospital is providing quality healthcare which is cost effective, affordable and community centered in an environment which is clean, caring and responsive to needs of the patient. Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital is serving as a role model healthcare delivery system in the state and country.
The Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital in partnership with Smile Train is conducting free surgical treatment for the children with cleft lip and palate. This association is striving towards bringing smiles on the faces of the children with cleft lip and palate.
We conduct screening programmes in various parts of Karnataka to identify children with cleft lip and palate. Hospital has also got a regular cleft lip and palate OPD. Any children with these deformity can contact at OPD No. 4 from Monday to Saturday between 9 am to 2 pm.
Any person or organisation interested to conduct camps or to refer a patient can contact Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital. A unit of Bhagwan Mahaveer Memorial Jain Trust, Millers Road, Vasanthnagar, Bangalore - 52 or Contact Mr. Amar Kalyan, Medical Social Worker on 98444 70489, 51076718, 22207640 to 44 (5 Lines), 51100550 to 52 (3 Lines).
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