Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Cleft Lip and Palate
Cleft lip and cleft palate are birth defects that occur when a baby's lip or mouth do not form properly. They happen early during pregnancy. A baby can have a cleft lip, a cleft palate, or both.
A cleft lip happens if the tissue that makes up the lip does not join completely before birth. This causes an opening in the upper lip. The opening can be a small slit or a large opening that goes through the lip into the nose. It can be on one or both sides of the lip or, rarely, in the middle of the lip.
Children with a cleft lip also can have a cleft palate. The roof of the mouth is called the "palate." With a cleft palate, the tissue that makes up the roof of the mouth does not join correctly. Babies may have both the front and back parts of the palate open, or they may have only one part open.
Children with a cleft lip or a cleft palate often have problems with feeding and talking. They also might have ear infections, hearing loss, and problems with their teeth.
Often, surgery can close the lip and palate. Cleft lip surgery is usually done before age 12 months, and cleft palate surgery is done before 18 months. Many children have other complications. They may need additional surgeries, dental and orthodontic care, and speech therapy as they get older. With treatment, most children with clefts do well and lead a healthy life.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
It sits within Mouth and Teeth and Genetics/Birth Defects.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Cleft Lip and Palate
150 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Safety and Efficacy of Bone Bioengineering Kit With Stem Cells for Alveolar Cleft RepairInstituto de Tecnologia do Paraná
- Speech Intervention Frameworks in Cantonese-speaking Children and Adolescences With Cleft Palate +/- LipChinese University of Hong Kong
- Cleft Lip and Palate Treatment Outcomes StudyUniversity of Florida
- Perioperative Respiratory Adverse Events in Cleft Lip and Palate Surgery: Incidence, Risk Factors, and Clinical ScoringMarmara University Pendik Training and Research Hospital
- Identification of Genetic Factors Implicated in Orofacial Cleft Using Whole Exome SequencingCentre Hospitalier Universitaire, Amiens
- Effect of Opioid-Free vs Opioid-Based Anesthesia on Postoperative Pain and Emergence Agitation in Children Undergoing Cleft SurgeryIva Smiljanić
Research already completed
- Description of Pain in Pediatric Patients With Cleft Lip and Palate Undergoing Alveolar Grafting Using Two Surgical Strategies: Stem Cells and Autogenous Iliac Crest Bone (Pain Evaluation in Children Undergoing Alveolar Grafting: Stem Cells vs. Iliac Crest Bone)Hospital Sirio-Libanes
- Evaluation of Efficiency the Full Digital Nasoalveolar Molding (F-D-NAM) on Nose and Lip Esthetics and Maxillary Arch Changes in Infants With Cleft Lip and PalateCairo University
- Tooth-borne Interdental Distraction Osteogenesis Along Arch Curvature for Wide Alveolar Clefts ReductionAin Shams University
- Alveolar Cleft Repair Using Osteoinductive CeramicsUMC Utrecht
- Assessment of the Influence of Cleft Repair on Microcirculation of the PalateUniversity Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
- Evaluation of Modified Le Fort I Osteotomy for Treating Cleft Lip and Palate PatientsAlexandria University
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Cleft Lip and Cleft PalateMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Cleft Lip/Cleft PalateCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Orofacial Clefts (For Parents)Nemours Foundation
- What is Cleft Lip and/or Palate?American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association
Treatments and Therapies
- About Care TeamsAmerican Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association
- Cleft Lip and Palate SurgeryAmerican Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
Living With
- Cleft Lip/Cleft Palate: Feeding Your ChildNemours Foundation
Genetics
- 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Ankyloblepharon-ectodermal defects-cleft lip/palate syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Focal dermal hypoplasia: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Opitz G/BBB syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Peters plus syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Popliteal pterygium syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- RAPADILINO syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Roberts syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Van der Woude syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Cleft LipNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Cleft PalateNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Cleft Lip, Cleft Palate. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Cleft Lip and Palate, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.