CLEFT PALATE REPAIR

Course overview

CLEFT PALATE AND CLEFT LIP WITH CLEFT PALATE ARE COMMONLY-ENCOUNTERED CONDITIONS WITH MULTIPLE ETIOLOGIES. CLEFT PALATE REPAIR AIMS TO RECONSTRUCT THE PALATAL MUSCLE SLING, PROVIDE AN ANATOMICAL FOUNDATION FOR ADEQUATE PALATAL MOVEMENT AND GOOD SPEECH, ISOLATE THE ORAL CAVITY FROM THE NASAL CAVITY, AND REPAIR THE PALATAL DEFECT. CLEFT WIDTH, LATERALITY, AND DEGREE OF VELOPHARYNGEAL DYSFUNCTION VARY AMONG INDIVIDUALS, AS DO COMORBIDITIES. ROUGHLY HALF OF ALL PALATAL CLEFTING CASES ARE NONSYNDROMIC, BUT MANY OTHER SYNDROMES MAY ALSO BE ASSOCIATED WITH CLEFT PALATES. THIS ACTIVITY DETAILS SOME OF THE OPERATIVE TECHNIQUES OF CLEFT PALATE REPAIR AND HIGHLIGHTS THE INTERPROFESSIONAL HEALTHCARE TEAM'S ROLE IN EVALUATING AND TREATING PATIENTS WITH CLEFT PALATES.