What is the difference between a cleft palate and a cleft lip?

Answer:
The main difference is that a cleft palate is where the roof of the mouth is open up into the nose, and a cleft lip is where the lip did not come together. Often they are seen together, but sometimes just the palate is affected and sometimes just the lip. There are many variations of a cleft lip and palate, bilateral, unilateral, partial, submucuous cleft. "cleft lip is noted at birth by the presence of a notch or gap in either one or both sides of the upper lip. If the cleft extends into the gum line, it may still be considered a cleft lip only. However, if a notch or gap in the lip occurs because of injury and is not present at birth, it is not considered a cleft lip.""cleft palate can either be an open and obvious gap in the roof of the mouth or be covered over by the lining or mucous membrane of the roof of the mouth, called a submucous cleft, which is not visible to the naked eye. A submucous cleft is characterized by a wide or split uvula (the small bell-shaped tissue that hangs down in the back of the throat), a small cleft or notch at the end of the hard palate and a thinning of the muscles in the palate that is covered by mucous membrane."A great place to get information is www.cleftadvocate.org.

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A cleft palate, is a congenital fissure at the roof of the mouth.
A cleft lip separation in the upper lip.

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Cleft lip means that just the lip didnt fuse together. Cleft palate means the palate (roof of mouth) did not fuse together. C lip is better to have than C palate because it is easier and quicker to fix. However some patients get C Lip and C palate.

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