Cleft Lip/Cleft Palate – Prevalence

Transcript

There are certain areas in the world that have a higher preponderance or incidence of cleft lip and palate. Part of that is genetic and we have found genetic predisposition in patients with such things as van der Woude syndrome or other syndromes, that you would see more likely in Honduras or areas like that. In general, in the US we have one of the lower incidences. Um, there’s different incidence also between men and women. We see a difference in different populations regardless of nutrition. So we do know that there is a genetic predisposition for people to get cleft lips and palates, but we haven’t really nailed down exactly what it is since it has so many different causes. Cleft lip and cleft palate can actually be diagnosed before the baby is born. So you can see in an ultrasound and you can plan properly for that baby, what the next step is.