There are three types; an incomplete cleft (where there is a literal hole in the roof of the mouth but is easy to fix with surgery), a unilateral cleft (where one side of the palate (roof of the mouth) is missing) and then there is the bilateral cleft (where both sides of the roof of the mouth are missing). The bilateral cleft is the worst and hardest to fix. I ended up with the bilateral cleft. Here are some visuals:
This is the incomplete cleft.
This is the unilateral cleft.
This is the bilateral cleft.
Normally when a baby is born there is an assembly of what is called a Cleft Palate Team. Unfortunately 20 years ago, we didn't have that and my parents put together their own Cleft Palate Team which consisted of doctors named David Bowers, Scott Rehm, and an Orthodontist (who did my six years of braces) Gary Jacobs. Sadly, Dr. Jacobs passed away in a plane crash. But they were and are my doctors. They are all great doctors with wonderful experiences that I've had with them. Although I didn't always enjoy going to the Orthodontist (I could have sworn that the drill was attached to his hand...) he did what no other Orthodontist could have done; straighten my teeth.
It's common that those with a cleft lip and/or palate will need speech therapy. Personally, I've always had trouble saying my R's and still do. I can't say a string of words with W's and R's in it such as "were we right".
Surgery to correct a cleft lip and/or palate is now relatively easy and it's not as common for a child to go through a multitude of surgeries (say, 34 like me) and instead only have a few surgeries younger in life. Although that can also be modified as the child gets older and they want cosmetic surgery. I'm doing so at this moment, I'll be getting my nose done once again, if the doctor in Texas thinks that I would be a good candidate.
I still have a hole in the roof of my mouth that was opened up by another surgery (they brought forward my upper jaw and spread the palate to fix my underbite) and will always have that. Otherwise I'm pretty much all fixed, if you could call it that. I happen to be very pleased with the doctors who treated me and I will have their numbers at the end of this post.
Another prevalent issue with cleft lip and/or palate children are issues in school. A lot of the issues are of children teasing the child who looks "different". Unfortunately there is no cure for that, even homeschooling doesn't help unless you know what you need to do as far as socializing the child. It's common that children are treated differently because of the hardships that they go through and that is frowned upon by the owner of the blog site. I wouldn't have wanted to be treated with a feather just because I was different from my brother and my parents, they refused to treat me any differently than my brother. I'm grateful for that because I may have ended up coming out much worse. I believe that children who have a "disability" and are treated as such have a different outlook on life. As it is, I'm a very normal 20 year old with a very average life. I believe that you are doing your child a major disservice if you treat them any different than any other child.
Also, something else can develop and that is depression. Normally it stems from poor self esteem and can also come from a family history. But for the most part it comes from all the teasing and heckling at school. I don't believe in the phrase that "kids will be kids" because that's simply intolerable. I believe that kids are only the way that their parents raise them and obviously they learn what they do when they're at home. Anyhow, it's not uncommon for depression and poor self esteem to develop. A way to combat this (without needing a therapist) is to just be open with your child and make sure that your child knows that s/he can come to you for anything. Be close with your child. I can tell my mother anything and everything about my life, she knows all my up's and down's and I share with her everything. It all comes from her being there for me. Another thing is for you to make sure that any issues in school are resolved. If that means taking it to the board of education, then by all means you do it. If that means getting the court system involved, then you do it. Nothing can be spared when it comes to your child. And I mean nothing.
This is a bit of briefing on a cleft lip and/or palate. Here are the numbers for my doctors, as I mentioned earlier, for you to call/look up if you need to:
David M. Bowers: (336) 275-0919
Scott R. Rehm: (336) 621-1554
Both of these doctors are exemplary. Tell them that Melissa Whiteman sent you and they'll know exactly who I am. ;)
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