How Dogs Can Help Us Prevent Cleft Palates

You probably know someone who had a  cleft palate or cleft lip at birth.

It’s a pretty common facial  difference in newborns,

and it’s usually repaired with  surgery while the person is little.

That’s because there can be serious  complications if it isn’t treated,

meaning this is an important  thing for us to understand.

Scientists are still trying to  work out exactly why clefts occur,

by looking at genetics and environmental factors.

And it turns out one major piece of the puzzle

has been hiding in a weird place: Dog DNA.

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Before we get to Fido, let’s go over  the details of cleft palates and lips.

The word cleft just means  there’s a gap in the thing,

so cleft palate is a gap in the soft or  hard palate of the roof of the mouth,

and a cleft lip is, well, you get it.

And no, they’re not the same thing.

The oral palate and lips form at  different stages in fetal development,

which means a cleft in one doesn’t necessarily  mean you’d get a cleft in the other.

Both cleft palates and cleft lips are  usually pretty easy to correct surgically,

and that’s a good thing, because there are

some risks involved if they go untreated.

These include difficulty feeding  as a newborn, dental issues,

problems with speech development and  increased risk of ear infections.

One British study found that of  babies affected with cleft anythings,

44% had just their palate affected, 24%  had just a cleft lip, and 32% had both.

But interestingly enough, not all  populations get these clefts equally.

Cleft palates are more  common in females than males.

But cleft lips are more common in males,

possibly because the palate  closes at a different time