Posted on March 14th, 2007 Clefts affect approximately 1 in
every 700 babies in Ireland. There has been no national register
of infants born with a cleft lip and/or palate in Ireland. The
compilation of such a register for the purposes of clinical
audit and strategic planning has only recently (2000) been made
possible with the appointment of a Cleft Co-ordinator in the
Eastern Regional Health Authority area. Consequent on the lack
of record-keeping, any figure given of the number of babies born
with a cleft lip and/or palate in Ireland can only be an
approximation. The figure of (’approximately’) 75 children
quoted in the report1 of a review into the development of oral
and maxillofacial surgery services in the Eastern Health Board
region (February 1999) is probably based on the often given
estimation of 1:700. Based on the (provisional) number of live
births in 1998 of 53,551 (Source: Central Statistics Office),
this figure calculates correctly. However, as can be seen from
the varied research reports into