Q. What is the cleft?
 

A. Cleft is congenital separation of lip and/or the palate. Sometimes alveolus and maxillary bone are also involved. Congenital separation of the lip is called ‘cleft lip’, and that of the palate is ‘cleft palate’. ‘Alveolar cleft’ implies the separation of the alveolus. Actually baby has little discomfort with this condition. This congenital anomaly is known to appear in 1st trimester. Etiology is thought to be the genetic and environmental factors. Therefore, no parents should be blamed or feel guilty. Incidence is different among the ethnic group, about 1 of 700~750 babies have this condition when he or she is born.