As I mentioned in my previous post, we took Levi to a cleft lip / palate clinic a couple weeks ago. He saw a pediatrician, pediatric dentist, registered nurse, speech pathologist, audiologist and his plastic surgeon. So many specialists! After a long day of their assessments, they all agreed that he was doing very well!
He’s developing just as he should, with just a few things to watch in the months and years to come. One thing that might be slow to develop is his speech, so we will continue to work with him on words and sounds. Occasionally, cleft palate children have trouble forming words after a palate repair, because the muscles in the palate aren’t quite the same as yours or mine. Also, cleft palate children often have a nasal sounding voice, which can usually be corrected with therapy. He will continue to have speech therapy appointments, to see if his palate has affected the amount or the sound of his words.
The other thing that we’ve noticed are his teeth aren’t coming in quite like they should on his upper gums. We were told that this would most likely be the case, basically because the roof of his mouth and his gum line didn’t quite form properly. He has several teeth already, but one of them has formed kind of behind his gum line, closer to the roof of his mouth. I asked the dentist why this tooth had formed there, and she said that the bone tissue where his teeth are forming had just migrated a bit from where it should be. We were wondering what they would do with a tooth that’s obviously not where it should be, but she said they would just leave it where it is for now, especially if it’s not bothering him. She explained that the alveolar bone that holds the tooth in place would decay if there was no tooth there, so they want to preserve that bone until they can adjust it when he is older. He will have a bone grafting surgery when he’s closer to 7 or 8, to rearrange and fix the bone of his upper gums before his adult teeth come in. Then comes braces! Fun!
Other than those couple of things, Levi is doing really well. His hearing is perfect (he still has tubes in his ears, which will most likely fall out sooner than later), the pediatrician was pleased with his growth and development, and the plastic surgeon is very happy with how the palate surgery turned out. He still does have a small fistula (opening) in the roof of his mouth close to the front, but the placement and size is favourable for speech development and eating at this point. She will plan to fix it when they do the bone grafting surgery a few years from now. His lip repair is also looking pretty good lately, and we’re pleased with how that has healed. It is so different than what it used to look like, especially after the second revision, and the surgeon said it will change over time as he grows.
Ryan and I both had no doubts that Levi was doing well, but it was definitely nice to have it confirmed! Our little guy still has lots of appointments and procedures down the road, but he’s doing awesome and handling everything so well. We are so thankful for the specialists that have helped Levi get to this point, and for friends and family supporting and praying with us through it all!
Thanks for reading!
