Essay - Speech Problems and Psychological Damage from Cleft Lips and Cleft...

speech problems and psychological damage from Cleft lips and cleft palates

Introduction

Cleft lips and ***** palates are among the most common of birth defects and if left untreated can lead to serious speech problems as well ***** ***** damage that ***** result both from those speech ***** communication problems as well as from the ostracism that a child with ***** facial deformity must endure.

*****, while the consequences of cleft ***** and palates can be severe and long-lasting, ********** can be averted by medical intervention, especially if it is done as early ***** possible. This paper explores the various options for surgical and medical management ***** cleft lips and palates and the ways in which these *****s can help children ***** these particular ***** defects.

We should begin this discussion of treatment of ***** lips ***** palates by establishing what exactly is meant in medical terms by these two terms. A cleft palate occurs when the palatal plates of an individual (which lie in the ro***** of the mouth) for ***** reasons fail to come together or "close" during the second month ***** fetal development.

There are different degrees of severity of ***** birth defect. In some cases, only the soft ***** while in other cases the hard palate may also be involved. In ***** cases, there is also involvement with the *****.

The hard palate consists of a pl*****te of bone in the roof of the ***** that is covered ***** a resilient layer of mucous membrane. The major function of ***** hard palate, which is lined with several ridges, ***** to ***** grip food in***** place so that it can be more easily manipulated by the tongue and the teeth ***** eating. It ***** serves ***** important ***** that ***** provides an essentially rigid "floor" to the nasal cavity that rests above it. In doing *****, the hard ***** protects ***** nasal passage ***** being blocked ***** pressures in the mouth. Thus, defects in the hard palate can produce problems in breath*****g as ***** as in speech production.

***** the hard palate - and as one might guess from *****s name, the soft palate is highly flexible (although it ***** also very strong) because ***** is made up of muscle and connective tissue rather than bone. ***** major function of the soft palate is that when a person chews or sucks (***** a nursing baby does) ***** soft ***** rises up to block the nasal ***** ***** pharynx ***** the mouth (as well as the oral portion of ***** pharynx). ***** creates a vacuum in an *****dividual's oral cavity, which in turn performs the essential task of keeping food out of the respiratory tract and so prevents choking.

***** the cleft palate affects the hard as well as the s*****t palate, ***** individual's ***** ***** will open directly into ***** and the nasal septum may actually be absent.

Cleft ***** occur ***** unilaterally and bilaterally and ***** ***** ***** accompanied by cleft lips, which is a bre*****k