Unpalatable results force cleft surgeons to rethink

A damning report on cleft lip and palate repair has forced British surgeons to confront a longstanding disagreement over which specialty should carry out the technically challenging surgery.

After investigating 297 children aged 5 and 277 aged 12 who had all undergone cleft repair in Britain, the Clinical Standards Advisory Group found that two out of five had poor dental bite, less than a third had a good lip appearance at age 12, and under half could speak with normal intelligibility at that age. The group's committee said that of the 57 units currently carrying out cleft palate repair, only six …