Alveolar Cleft
The cleft lip and palate are repaired as babies, but the alveolar cleft when wide should be repaired at a later time to avoid growth disturbance. Usually this is done when the permanent teeth are coming in. The cleft surgeons work closely with orthodontists in preparing for the procedure so that the teeth and gums are optimally positioned for surgery.
The procedure requires taking bone graft (usually some bone marrow from the hip bone) to fill the gap in the alveolus or gums. After the procedure, the patient needs to be on a soft diet for ten days and be careful in brushing the teeth not to damage the healing incisions in the mucosa of the gums. It takes about 3 months for bone formation to show on an X-ray and confirm that the bone graft has taken. Once this is confirmed, then the orthodontist can resume work on aligning the teeth.
We were told that if the graft is 80% successful that they will be thrilled, if 50-70% of the graft takes, there is a chance that it will have to be redone, and anything less will require a second go at it. It will be a long three months of waiting to see. Please pray that it will take the first time as this is not a very fun surgery to go through.
Thanks for sharing this post this Kim. Both our son and daughter will need this surgery done so it is good to hear first hand accounts and it is nice to get a Canadian persepective as so many of the other stories are from the US which is very different. Your timing is certainly earlier than we have been told (6-8 years) but I find that most of BC does things a bit different...we seem to be really old school here in SK ! (FOI family, SK) -Blessings to you-
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