Gnathoformative Medicine

  • Related Key Words:
  • cleft lip and palate(CL/P)
  • oral-facial anomalies
  • speech
  • maxillary growth



Cleft lip and palate (CL/P) is the most common oral-facial birth defect, and the second most common overall birth defect. Clefts in Japanese is the most frequently, occur once in every 500 to 600 live births. We know that this birth defect is linked with genetic and environmental factors. Because of the compactness of oral-facial area, sucking, speech, maxillary growth, and dental features are affected. We perform
to develop the technique of its diagnosis and treatment, and the basic and clinical research to prevent various disturbances with CL/P.

Clinical research
It is thought that the timing and technique of palatal closure have a great influence on the acquisition of adequate palatal function for the development of normal speech without interfering significantly with maxillofacial growth. To establish the most effective CL/P care system, we start multi-institutional comparative clinical research.

Basic research
Hereditary and environmental factors are involved in CL/P’s etiology, but it is not known how they specifically interact.We start a study for searching candidate genes of CL/P in cooperation with domestic and foreign facilities according to the ethical guidelines for human genome, genetic analysis.