Workshop at AIIMS on cleft anomaly

New Delhi, August 25 

A “first-of-its-kind” workshop was held in AIIMS to train more than 100 orthodontists from across the country and Nepal to provide comprehensive treatment for facial deformities in children like cleft lip. 

Specialists from medical and dental fraternity, including plastic surgeons, cleft orthodontists, pediatricians, clinical geneticist and clinical psychologists, contributed as course faculty to sensitise participants about complete protocols of cleft treatment with greater emphasis on correcting deformities of face due to poor dental alignment and unintelligible speech.  

Cleft lip or cleft palate is a condition when the two sides of the lip, developing in an unborn baby, do not completely fuse. It adversely affects nutrition, leads to chest infections, ear problems, poor speech and inability in proper chewing. 

Cleft lip and palate anomaly constitute nearly one-third of all congenital malformations of the craniofacial region with an average worldwide incidence of one in 700, said Prof Kharbanda, an eminent cleft craniofacial orthodontist and chief of the Centre for Dental Education and Research at AIIMS here. 

Its incidence in the Asian population is reported to be around 1.7 per 1,000 live births or higher. In India, more than 35,000 cleft children are born every year, and they add to huge existing patients, the doctor said.  — PTI

WHAT IS CLEFT LIP OR CLEFT PALATE

Cleft lip or cleft palate is a condition when the two sides of the lip, developing in an unborn baby, do not completely fuse. It adversely affects nutrition, leads to chest infections, ear problems, poor speech and inability in proper chewing. Its incidence in the Asian population is reported to be around 1.7 per 1,000 live births or higher.