Palate cleft can occur as complete (soft and hard palate, possibly including a gap in the jaw) or incomplete (a hole in the roof of the mouth, usually as a cleft soft palate). When cleft palate occurs, the uvula is usually split. It occurs due to the failure of fusion of the lateral palatine processes, the nasal septum, or the median palatine processes (formation of the secondary palate). The hole in the roof of the mouth caused by a cleft connects the mouth directly to the inside of the nose. Note: the next images show the roof of the mouth. The top shows the nose, the lips are colored pink. For clarity the images depict a toothless infant. A result of an open connection between the mouth and inside the nose is called velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI). Because of the gap, air leaks into the nasal cavity resulting in a hypernasal voice resonance and nasal emissions while talking. Secondary effects of VPI include speech articulation errors (e.g., distortions, substitutions, and omissions) and compensatory misarticulations and mispronunciations (e.g., glottal stops and posterior nasal fricatives). Possible treatment options include speech therapy, prosthetics, augmentation of the posterior pharyngeal wall, lengthening of the palate, and surgical procedures.Submucous cleft palate can also occur, which is a cleft of the soft palate with a split uvula, a furrow along the midline of the soft palate, and a notch in the back margin of the hard palate.
The use of corticosteroids during pregnancy in dogs and the ingestion of Veratrum californicum by pregnant sheep have also been associated with cleft formation.Difficulty with nursing is the most common problem associated with clefts, but aspiration pneumonia, regurgitation, and malnutrition are often seen with cleft palate and is a common cause of death. Providing nutrition through a feeding tube is often necessary, but corrective surgery in dogs can be done by the age of twelve weeks. For cleft palate, there is a high rate of surgical failure resulting in repeated surgeries. Surgical techniques for cleft palate in dogs include prosthesis, mucosal flaps, and microvascular free flaps. Affected animals should not be bred due to the hereditary nature of this condition. See also
Smile Pinki
Palatal obturator
Vomer flap surgery
Cleft lip and palate organisations
Face and neck development of the embryo

References
Notes

Further reading

FIGURE 1 | Development of the lip and palate and FIGURE 2 | Types of cleft in Dixon MJ, Marazita ML, Beaty TH, Murray JC (March 2011). "Cleft lip and palate: understanding genetic and environmental influences". Nature Reviews. Genetics. 12 (3): 167–78. doi:10.1038/nrg2933. PMC 3086810. PMID 21331089. Berkowitz S (February 26, 2013). Cleft Lip and Palate: Diagnosis and Management. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-30770-6. External links

Cleft lip and cleft palate at Curlie