Management of an infant with cleft lip and palate with phocomelia in dental practice

Cleft lip and palate is a severe birth defect occurring approximately one in 800-1000 newborn infants. The incidence varies widely among races. Cleft lip and palate together account for approximately 50% of all cases whereas isolated cleft lip and isolated cleft palate occur in about 25% of cases. Many of these congenital anomalies appear to be genetically determined though the majority are of unknown causes or teratogenic influences. Presented here is a 3 day old infant with bilateral cleft lip and palate and phocomelia for whom a feeding obturator was made and delivered to facilitate feeding.