palate

Key facts A cleft lip or palate happens when parts of your lip, upper jaw or the roof of your mouth don’t join properly during development in the womb. A cleft lip or palate can lead to problems with breast or bottle feeding, and later with speech. Surgery can resolve these issues as well as help the child’s appearance and speech to develop normally. What is cleft lip or palate? Cleft lip or palate develops when parts of the lip, upper jaw or roof of the mouth don’t join properly in early pregnancy, resulting in a ‘cleft’ or opening. While