Who made our baby develop a cleft lip/palate?

Sporadic event: Clcp defects occur sporadically in the population. The cause is unknown but there are a complex series of genes involved. A clcp parent has a 4% risk of a second child with the defect, & 2 clcp parents have about 8% risk of a child with a defect. Most occur in families with no history of prior defects.

Multifactorial: Cleft lip/palate could be isolated deformities or may be part of syndrome. There may be a genetic predisposition, environmental factor especially at the time of embryonic development such as alcohol, maternal illness, smoking, the use of drug such as phenytoin. Pathogenesis of all clefts is due to some form of interference with the normal development of the face and oral cavity.