Compare And Contrast Cleft Lip And Palate

Every child deserves to have a healthy and lively life. No child should have to call the hospital their second home. Cleft lip and palate is a worldwide problem. It causes deformation, feeding problem, and diminishes their health. To prevent this burdensome epidemic, initiatives which would be donating to the Operation of Hope and Operation Smile foundations, to spread awareness, and to give health benefits to the children who suffer from this condition should be implemented.
“An orofacial (or-oh-FAY-shul) cleft [which is the medical term for cleft lip and palate] is when a baby is born with an opening in the lip and/or roof of the mouth [Palate].” “KidsHealth Cleft lip”. Many kids with cleft lip and palate struggle every single day, having
it extremely hard when it comes to the basic skill all babies automatically have, sucking. This condition is one of the most common among babies and can be detected early during the first few weeks of pregnancy. This can be extremely devastating to the parents of the child and can bring many expenses to the family.
Cleft lip and palate does not just cause difficulty with feeding, it also harms the baby’s overall health. with the openings on the lip and/or in the roof of the mouth it can cause many ear infections. With causing the ear infections it can end up resulting in hearing loss “Cleft lip and Palate”. This condition also becomes the reason of many dental problems in cleft lip babies. The baby growing up will have speech problems if the issue is not resolved by surgeries. “However, many children who are born with a cleft palate develop normal speech by the age of 5.” “Speech Development”. This doesn’t just affect the baby, it also put a toll on the parent. Days on end with having to either try to calm the child down if he or she is in pain or just having to pay for medical bill after medical bill to help their baby. Parents are struggling with juggling it all, bill after bill, if the government were to give more health benefits such as 2,000 dollars to go towards the first surgery to close up the cleft or to clear the medicine that is needed then it will help the parents and help the child get better.
When dealing with a child with cleft palate and/or lip they can have speech problems because of the palate not being connected which ends up pushing air into the nose and/or not enough palate for the tongue to touch “Speech Development”. It is important for the parent to encourage the child to speak as much as he or she can. Discouraging them will lead to many insecurities and they child may not get better at speaking. It may be hard to understand them so it's important for the parents to help them practice talking slower and clearly. This also may require a speech therapist, which the government should include in the health benefits.
It isn't unusual for children with cleft lip to have speech problems. These children usually have trouble articulating words which make the words sound mushy and/or distorted especially if their teeth isn't lined up correctly “Speech Development”. Velopharyngeal inadequacy is when someone sounds like they're speaking through their nose “Speech Development”. “Approximately 25% of children with repaired cleft palates still show signs of velopharyngeal inadequacy.” “Speech Development”. The other 75% seems no different than if they had not had a cleft palate.
In these children’s lives can be filled with surgeries, and to an outsider who has never went through what these children are going through, it can be a sad sight. the organization that works with cleft lip and palate is called Operation of Hope, recently performed 76 successful surgeries”cleft lip, Palate ops”. The whole reason for cleft palate and lip surgeries is to help with the feeding and speech. “Cleft lip and Palate”. parents are assured that their kid will not be in any pain during the surgery. "Medications are administered for your child’s comfort during the surgical procedures” “Cleft Surgeries”. originally there’s only one surgery to repair the cleft, the others are for the appearance. “Cleft surgeries”. The government should feel entitled to help not only their own but to help in other countries also well. There are children all over the world that are plagued with this condition. America can help by sending supplies to and by donating to the Operation Smile and Operation of Hope organizations who help at a worldwide perspective.
Cleft palate and lip would seem to be randomized to the average human, but cleft lip and palate actually has a pattern “Cleft lip and Palate Gale”.
“Over 5,000 infants are born each year in the United States with a cleft lip or palate (about one in every 700 births).” “Cleft lip and Palate Gale”. The United States should want to help its children. Citizens of the United State should want to help each other out. As people, it should not be okay for a child to struggle for a condition that was not his or her intent to have, moral compasses will show bright in the light. It is a worldwide issue that affect the youth of our nation and others. also cleft lip is the third most common of malformation in the united states “Cleft lip and Palate Gale”. In America if this is extremely common, then it should be one of the United States main priorities to help the children. also cleft lip is most common in boys than girls but vice versa when it comes to cleft palate “Cleft lip and Palate Gale”. Occurring most often among Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans (one in 500), the next most often among persons of European ethnicity (one in 700), and the least often among persons of African ethnicity (one in 1,000).” “Cleft Lip and Palate
Gale”.
The causes of cleft lip and palate is unclear, but there are ways to increase the parent’s chances of having a cleft lip child “Cleft Lip and Palate gale”. Scientist believe that it's a combination of genetics and the environment “Cleft Lip and Palate Gale”. it’s also said that expecting mothers who frequently use drugs and alcohol are at a higher risk of having cleft lip and palate. “Cleft”. also when the mother lacks vitamins and especially folic acid “Cleft”. 13% of children with cleft lip and palate usually have other deformities or birth defects “Cleft”. Not only does the child end up having a facial deformity but there is a chance that the child could have a mental disability also.
Operation of Hope helps children that have cleft lip and palate internationally “Operation of Hope”.
Operation of Hope is a non-profit organization with all volunteer surgeons “Operation of Hope”. the organization was founded in 1988 by a retired ear, throat,and nose physician name Dr. JP Clawson. “Operation of Hope”. These organization affected more than 3,000 lives for the better “Operation of Hope”. Operation of hope makes sure that all of its surgeons are board certified and they perform free of charge for the families “Operation of Hope”. Since this is a non-profit organization, it’s not government runned. Operation of Hope only takes donations and volunteers. For them to continue helping the children of America they only use what they are given. They do not charge the families that they help and they renew a life.
Operation Smile is a organization that helps kids with cleft lip also. Operation Smile was founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee and his wife, they traveled to the philippines and saw a epidemic of cleft lip children “Operation Smile”. Dr. Magee was a plastic surgeon that wanted to help these kids. they started to fundraise for the money to help these kids “Operation Smile”. they had 18 doctors that were volunteers. “Operation
Smile”.
Mr. and Mrs. Meleah were dying to have another baby, they were imagining a perfectly healthy newborn. During their pregnancy Mrs. Meleah had a feeling that something is wrong with the baby, she was having difficulty with the pregnancy. they went in for the anatomy scan and the they were expect the baby to be perfectly healthy even though doctor was limited to see what the baby looked like. They were ordered to get a ultrasound, mrs. meleah had a gut feeling that something is very wrong with their baby. When they had got the ultrasound it’s discover that the baby has cleft lip and palate. the family is devastated. while preparing for the baby’s arrival, there were many night of tears, cry outs, and prayers. Danielle was born on december 27 2010, that was when the Meleah realized the trials that will be present. when danielle was born her cleft started from the nose to the back of the throat, in total a 15mm gap. a month later is when the Meleah met danelle’s surgeon, orthodontist, nutritionist, and nursing staff. Danelle was fitted for a special kind of retainer to reduce the severity of the cleft. the next 5 months were extremely hard for the family because danielle was diagnosed with reflux and colic which made it hard for her to eat and would leave her crying for days on end. at the end of danelle’s 5 months, she went into surgery. when the wounds were healed, it was a a overwhelming site to see. now at 11 months old, danelle is a healthy baby with no reminisce of the cleft lip, and with a jovial personality as all healthy babies should. (Danielle’s story).
Brooke Wayne, an U-Voice volunteer student, was born with a cleft lip. Fortunately the cleft was fix. She would often see children and adults point and stare at her scar. She would hear the inappropriate and sometimes hurtful comments whispered not to well. Parents would try to promote the appreciation of the child health by say “You are lucky, don’t forget” just short of ear reach. Brooke volunteered to be apart of Operation Smile and so she was put in Mexico. Booke was excited to meet new patients and families that had the same condition that she did. On one of her shifts she saw a little girl that looked around like ten years old named Rosio. Brooke knew she had noticed the scar, and what all kids are known to do is to ask questions. Rosio pointed to her face and then pointed to brooke’s face seeming to ask “Did you have a cleft lip too?”. Brooke responded by saying “Si”. In spanish Rosio ask “how old were you when had your surgery?”. Brooke pulled out a picture of her as an infant and showed Rosio to answer her question. Rosio took the picture and helped it close to her face and in spanish said “ You are beautiful.” “Brooke Wayne”.
Cleft Lip and Palate is a worldwide problem that needs to be solved by helping the non-profit organization continue in its work, by spreading awareness about the condition and by having the government apply health benefits to children who have this condition. Everyone needs to express to mothers everywhere that what they do is affect their baby. The world needs to know that cleft lip and palate, isn’t just some condition that's benign, but that it affects the child, the parents, and everyone around them.