Chandigarh : The cleft lip and palate is a common congenital deformity involving one child in every 1000 live births. There is either a split in the lip or roof of the mouth or both leading to esthetic problems, difficulty in feeding, discharge of fluids/drinks through the nose, speech & hearing problems, abnormal jaw growth, malformed and irregular teeth and above all psychological trauma for the whole family. These children present with more dental decay (cavities) and gum problem as compared to normal children. Since this birth defect involves the face, it causes a lot of stress in the family which needs to be handled with proper counseling.
Children with these deformities are visiting PGIMER from North, West, North East and Central India. On an average 200 patients are being managed annually by the Plastic Surgeons, ENT & Speech Specialists and Dental Specialists. Immediately after the birth of such a child, the parents are counseled, given instructions on feeding and step by step management following a definite protocol at the institute. The defect of lip/palate is surgically repaired by the plastic surgeons. Problems related to hearing and speech are managed by ENT and Speech specialists. The abnormal growth of the jaws and associated dental problems secondary to cleft are managed by a team of dental specialists at Oral Health Sciences Centre comprising of Peadiatric dentists, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons, Orthodontists and Prosthodontists providing these children an optimum function of the oral cavity and esthetics of the face. At the Oral Health Sciences Centre, these children are being followed from a very early age till adulthood where preventive, interceptive and corrective management approaches are provided to them based on their requirement. They are being introduced to the primary preventive strategies of oral health and managed for dental caries (cavities) and gum diseases with motivation for further prevention. The mal-aligned teeth and collapsed upper jaw is treated by comprehensive orthodontic treatment (braces). The Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons correct the jaws in the normal position once the treatment reaches its final stage after orthodontic treatment.
Apart from routine management of such children, the centre has also done extensive research related to cleft lip and palate over the last three decades. The centre has recently completed a study in which all births in Chandigarh, at different birth facilities were monitored for such defects and it was found that on an average one out of every 1000 children is born with cleft of lip and palate. It was also found that in these children the salivary flow is less and salivary viscosity is more with increased bacterial counts that lead to more tooth decay and gum problems. A special oral health preventive protocol has been developed for such patients.
A public session ‘Cleft Awareness Program’ is being organized by Oral Health Sciences Centre, PGIMER on 22nd October, 2012 at Lecture Theatre Complex, PGIMER, Chandigarh between 12.00 noon – 2.00 pm.
The public session would be largely attended by the children with cleft lip and palate deformity, their parents, general public and specialist doctors who work as a team in the management of cleft lip and palate deformities. The various specialists would highlight their role in the management of such deformities at this comprehensive program and answer the queries related to the problem. The cleft lip and palate team at PGIMER has been dedicatedly working for over 35 years for the benefit of such patients.
The purpose of this public session is to allay the anxiety of parents having a child with cleft and to reassure them regarding the availability of a comprehensive inter-disciplinary management schedule at PGI for such patients where timely intervention can give the best possible outcome. The program would include interaction with patients who have been comprehensively managed for cleft lip and / or palate at PGIMER and have been very successful in life and who would be role model for children having a cleft.