Molecular, clinical and political approaches to the problem of cleft lip and palate

The oral facial complex in man appears to be exquisitively sensitive to genetic and environmental influences which is why clefts of the palate are the most common congenital birth anomaly. The development of the palate starts at about the 6th week of inter-uterine life and requires development of the palatal shelves from the maxillary processes of the first arch, shelf elevation, medial edge epithelial breakdown and mesenchyme flow with subsequent establishment of osteogenic and myogenic blastemata. This significant level of matrix turnover is partly regulated by the matrix metalloproteinases and potentially this could be affected by abnormalities in gene function. This may represent a common mechanism for a variety of different genes associated with clefting of the palate. The measurement of outcomes for children born with a cleft requires a wide input from a variety of specialities. The development of these outcome measures requires rigorous testing and validation, but it is now possible to use a variety of outcome measures to establish clinical standards and this has been done nationally. The impact of identifying a need for a change in organisation of service delivery was probably underestimated. It is clear that the current organisations in the National Health Service struggle to implement change, even with a detailed study and hard evidence. Reasons for this are outlined and a potential harder hitting strategy for effecting this change is outlined. The move towards primary care trusts within the latest reorganisation of the Health Service is potentially extremely damaging for specialised services for low incidence anomalies.