Tom sits in the waiting room of your oral surgery office with his baby,
Morgan, who has a cleft palate.
At the appointed time, Tom enters your examining room. He pleads with you.
"I know that Morgan is still very young, but can't you please schedule
an appointment to fix her cleft palate soon?" he says. "She looks strange,
and I'm sure we'd all feel better if you could fix the problem right
away.
"Why does she have to wait until she is a few years older? I know she's
only an infant now, but that is such a long time."
You sympathize with Tom. It is a long time to wait. The opening in the
roof the mouth, called a cleft palate, can often make speech and eating difficult.
Even still, it isn't always the best idea to perform the surgery immediately.
"Sometimes closing the palate can inhibit the growth and development of
the jaw," says Jack Klatell. He is a professor and chair of a
dentistry department.
What do you do?
Operate soonRecommend that surgery wait until later