Clefts that occur in children are a special topic. Avoiding risk factors, and also an early diagnosis of cleft possibility can result in minimizing or avoiding them. If on the other hand when clefts occur they require a long-term, multistage specialized treatment. Etiology of clefts seems to be related to many factors. Factors such as genetic, environmental, geographic and even race factors are...

craniofacial  anomalies  include  clefts,  synostoses,  atrophic  abnormalities,neoplasias etc. among which cleft lip and/or palate caused by abnormal facial development during gestation is one of the most prevalent congenital defects. its overall occurrence is about 1:700 ranging from 0.02 to 4.04 in 1000 live births. there are different etiologic factors considering the cleft cause. in most c...

Introduction Amnion rupture in early pregnancy results in severe anomalies such as anencephaly, encephalocoele, exencephaly, acrania, facial clefts and absence of limbs (1,2). Most affected fetuses abort in the second trimester, are stillborn or die soon after birth (1,3).We report an infant with amnion rupture sequence, who survived for 9 weeks after birth. A Medline search failed to reveal do...

The wide variety of craniofacial malformations makes classification difficult. A simple classification system allows an overview of the current understanding of the causes, assessments, and treatments of the most frequently encountered craniofacial anomalies. Facial clefts and encephaloceles are reviewed with respect to their diverse causes, pathogenesis, anatomical features, and treatments. Ap...

OBJECTIVE This study describes the presentation of first branchial cleft anomalies and compares outcomes of first branchial cleft with other branchial cleft anomalies with attention to otologic findings. STUDY DESIGN Case series with chart review. SETTING Pediatric tertiary care facility. METHODS Surgical databases were queried to identify children with branchial cleft anomalies. Descript...

BACKGROUND The repair of the lateral or transverse facial cleft is a surgical challenge on the account of the abnormal positioning and appearance of the cleft. MATERIALS AND METHODS Over a twenty-seven year period, 22 lateral facial cleft cases were evaluated at a cleft lip (CL) and palate clinic and seven children underwent reconstruction of the lateral CL. RESULTS Twenty-two of 3187 (0.69...

The results of previous epidemiologic research on the possible association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and risk of oral clefts in offspring have been inconsistent. This may be due in part to methodological limitations, including imprecise measurement of tobacco use, failure to consider etiologic heterogeneity among types of oral clefts, and confounding. This analysis, based on a l...

After 40 years of treating children with various types of clefts, this author has concluded that the success or failure of a surgical procedure depends on the degree of palatal cleft defect at the time of surgery and the resulting facial growth pattern as well as the surgical skills and the surgical procedure utilized. This conclusion will not be new to the experienced orthodontist who in all p...