What to Expect From a Maxillofacial Prosthesis Over Time: Refits, Wear and Replacement Cycles

The first thing many people notice is not the prosthesis itself. It is the small ritual that grows around it: the morning check in the mirror, the tube of adhesive that runs out faster than expected, the appointment reminder that arrives just when everything finally feels normal. Someone who has spent months recovering from head and neck surgery often expects the prosthesis to be the finish line. Then a clinician mentions maxillofacial prosthesis replacement, and the finish line quietly moves.

That is not a failure of the device or of the person wearing it. A prosthesis sits on living tissue that keeps changing, and it is made from materials that age in sunlight, skin oil and saliva. Understanding that cycle in advance makes the second and third prosthesis far less unsettling than the first.

This explainer walks through what these devices are, what actually wears out, how refits differ from full remakes, and which signs mean a call to your care team rather than a wait until the next scheduled visit.

What does maxillofacial prosthetic mean?

A maxillofacial prosthesis is a custom-made artificial part that replaces missing or altered structures of the face, jaws or mouth. The word breaks into two halves: maxillofacial refers to the upper jaw (maxilla) and the face, and prosthesis simply means a replacement part. A maxillofacial prosthodontist is a dentist with additional training in designing these devices, usually working alongside surgeons, oncologists, speech therapists and technicians.

People arrive at this specialty from several directions. Surgery for head and neck cancer, which MedlinePlus describes as tumors starting in the mouth, nose, sinuses, throat or larynx, can leave a gap in the palate, the roof of the mouth, or remove part of the nose, ear or eye socket. Trauma, burns and birth differences such as cleft palate account for many other cases. In each situation the prosthesis has two jobs: restore a function such as speech, swallowing or protecting a surgical cavity, and restore appearance in a way that lets a person move through a room without being stared at.

What the term does not mean matters too. A maxillofacial prosthesis is not the same as a surgical reconstruction using the person’s own tissue, although the two are often planned together. It is also not a permanent implant sealed inside the body. Most are removable, cleaned by the wearer and periodically adjusted or remade. That removability is the reason replacement cycles exist at all, and it is also what makes these devices adaptable when a scar softens, a child grows or a tumor site needs to be inspected.

Treatment decisions about which type suits a particular person, and when, always sit with the treating team.

Maxillofacial prosthesis examples: what teams actually make

Ask a prosthodontic laboratory what passes across the bench in a typical month and the variety is striking. The most common maxillofacial prosthesis examples fall into two families, defined by whether the device lives inside the mouth or on the face.

Inside the mouth, the obturator is the workhorse. An obturator is an acrylic plate, often shaped like a partial denture, that seals an opening between the mouth and the nasal cavity after part of the upper jaw has been removed. Without it, fluid escapes through the nose and speech becomes nasal and hard to understand. Related devices include palatal lift prostheses, which help a soft palate that no longer closes properly, and speech bulbs that fill a gap at the back of the palate. Feeding plates for infants with cleft palate belong here as well; NHS guidance notes that cleft surgery is usually staged during the first year of life, and a plate may bridge the period before repair.

On the face, silicone prostheses replace an ear, a nose, an eye with its surrounding lids and socket (an orbital prosthesis), or larger combined areas after extensive surgery. Ocular prostheses, the artificial eye itself, are typically made by a separate specialist called an ocularist and often sit inside a larger orbital prosthesis.

Retention, the way a device stays put, is the second axis. Some rely on adhesives or the undercuts of the defect. Others clip onto small titanium implants placed in the facial bones or jaw, the same osseointegration principle Mayo Clinic describes for dental implants, where bone grows around the titanium surface over several months. Each type ages differently, which is why a replacement schedule is never one-size-fits-all.

How a maxillofacial prosthesis works, in plain language

Picture a puzzle piece cut for a hole that keeps changing shape by a fraction of a millimeter every few weeks. That is the engineering challenge, and it explains nearly everything about long-term care.

The process usually starts with an impression, a soft material or a digital scan that records the exact shape of the defect and the surrounding tissue. From that record a technician builds a model, then sculpts the prosthesis in wax so it can be tried in place and adjusted while the person watches in a mirror. Only when shape, edge position and symmetry are agreed is the piece converted to its final material.

For intraoral devices that material is generally heat-cured acrylic, the same class of plastic used in dentures. It is rigid, cleanable and can be relined, meaning a fresh layer added to the tissue side to close a gap that has opened. For facial pieces the usual material is medical-grade silicone, chosen because it can be tinted in translucent layers to mimic skin and because it flexes with facial movement. Color is built in with pigments, and a subtle mottling of veins and freckles is painted by hand.

Retention decides how the day goes. Adhesive-retained pieces are glued each morning and peeled off each night. Implant-retained pieces snap onto magnets or bar-and-clip attachments on titanium posts, so the skin under the prosthesis is spared daily glue. Mayo Clinic describes the healing phase for dental implants as lasting several months while bone fuses to the post; craniofacial implants follow the same biology, so the prosthesis itself is often the last stage of a longer journey.

None of this is a mechanical afterthought. Fit, retention and material choice are the three variables that determine how soon a refit or replacement becomes necessary.

Who is usually a candidate, and who is asked to wait

In principle anyone with a defect of the face or upper jaw that cannot be, or is not yet, surgically reconstructed may be considered. In practice, timing is the harder question, and it is where people are most often asked to be patient.

Surgeons and prosthodontists usually prefer that a defect be stable before a definitive prosthesis is made. Fresh surgical sites swell, then shrink, then remodel as scar tissue matures, and a piece fitted during the swollen phase will loosen within weeks. Many teams provide an interim device during this window: a surgical obturator placed at the time of operation, or a temporary facial piece, with the understanding that it will be replaced once tissues settle. Radiation therapy adds another consideration. Irradiated skin and mucosa are more fragile and heal more slowly, so teams often delay implant placement or adhesive use until the treating oncologist is satisfied that the tissue can tolerate it.

People are also asked to wait when cancer surveillance takes priority. A removable prosthesis is an advantage here, because the surgical cavity can be inspected at each visit, whereas a flap of the person’s own tissue may hide a recurrence. MedlinePlus notes that follow-up after head and neck cancer treatment is ongoing, and the prosthetic schedule is usually built around those appointments rather than the other way round.

Children form a special group. Growth means that a prosthesis made for a seven-year-old will not fit a ten-year-old, so pediatric teams plan for frequent remakes and may hold off on implants until facial growth is largely complete. Cleft teams follow a staged pathway that NHS guidance describes stretching from infancy into the teenage years.

Who qualifies, and when, remains a judgment for the treating team, weighing healing, hygiene, dexterity and what the person hopes the prosthesis will do for them.

The first days and weeks with a new prosthesis

The delivery appointment tends to be emotional and slightly anticlimactic at the same time. The piece is placed, the mirror is offered, small adjustments are made, and then comes a practical lesson that feels oddly domestic: how to hold it, how to clean it, where to keep it overnight.

The first week is mostly about learning the device. Adhesive-retained facial prostheses have a short curve of trial and error with the amount and placement of adhesive, and a spare is usually worth carrying. Obturator wearers notice speech changing immediately, often for the better, but the tongue needs time to relearn where the new palate sits. Speech and language therapists frequently join at this stage. Mild soreness at pressure points is common with any new intraoral acrylic and is normally addressed by a quick adjustment rather than a remake.

The second and third weeks are when the first early refit typically happens. Tissue that was compressed by the impression rebounds, small gaps appear, and the prosthodontist relieves or adds material accordingly. This is expected, not a sign that something went wrong. People who have worn dentures will recognize the pattern; MedlinePlus advises that dentures may need adjustment or relining as the mouth changes, and the same biology applies to an obturator.

By the end of the first month or two, most wearers have settled into a routine, and the review interval stretches out. For implant-retained devices, the early period also includes learning to clean around the abutments, the small metal posts protruding through the skin, because inflammation there is the commonest reason for later trouble.

Timelines vary with the size of the defect, radiation history and how quickly tissues mature. The dates on your own schedule are set by your team, not by a textbook.

Why every prosthesis changes: tissue, material, adhesive and light

Four separate processes conspire against a perfect fit, and they run on different clocks.

Tissue change is the fastest and most personal. A surgical defect keeps remodeling for many months, scar contracts and softens, weight shifts alter facial contours, and bone beneath a denture or obturator slowly resorbs where it is no longer stimulated by teeth. MedlinePlus explains that this bone and gum change is the reason dentures loosen over time and need relining or replacing. An obturator experiences exactly the same forces, plus the added variable of a healing cavity.

Material aging is next. Silicone is chosen for its softness and lifelike translucency, but that same softness makes the thin feathered edges tear, and the pigments within it shift. Ultraviolet light, skin oils, cosmetics and repeated adhesive removal all accelerate this. Acrylic is tougher but can craze, discolor and pick up odor if it is left to dry out or cleaned with abrasive products.

Adhesive is the third clock. Daily gluing and peeling stresses the margins of a facial prosthesis and can irritate the skin beneath. Over months, residue builds up in the silicone and the edges stiffen. Implant-retained pieces sidestep this, which is one reason their silicone often lasts longer, though their clips, magnets and O-rings wear out instead and are changed as routine maintenance.

Finally there is the person. Dexterity changes with age or illness, cleaning routines lapse, sun exposure differs between a gardener and an office worker. None of these is a matter of blame; they are variables the team folds into the schedule.

The practical lesson is that a replacement cycle is not a fixed product warranty. It is the point at which these four processes together outpace what an adjustment can fix.

Maxillofacial prosthesis replacement, refit or reline: what each means

The vocabulary at follow-up visits can be confusing, and the difference between an adjustment and a remake is more than semantic. Each option has a different purpose, chair time and expected result.

Term	What is actually done	Typical trigger	What it can and cannot fix
Adjustment	Small grinding or polishing of acrylic, minor trimming of a silicone edge, re-tinting a faded area	Sore spot, sharp edge, early color mismatch	Relieves pressure and improves cosmetics; cannot close a real gap
Reline	New impression inside the existing obturator or denture; fresh layer of acrylic or soft liner added to the tissue side	Loosening, leakage of fluid through the nose, food trapping	Restores seal and stability; does not renew worn teeth or a cracked base
Attachment service	Replacing magnets, clips, O-rings or abutment screws on implant-retained pieces	Prosthesis no longer snaps firmly	Restores retention; the silicone or acrylic body is kept
Remake or replacement	New impression, new sculpt, new material from scratch	Torn margins, permanent discoloration, fit that no longer responds to reline, significant tissue change	Resets everything; usually the point at which design improvements are also introduced

A useful way to think about it: adjustment and reline buy time, attachment service is routine maintenance, and replacement is the reset. Most facial silicone pieces move through one or two rounds of adjustment before a remake becomes the sensible choice, while acrylic obturators often accept several relines over their life, mirroring the pattern MedlinePlus describes for dentures.

Which route applies on a given day is a clinical judgment. A prosthodontist weighs fit, hygiene, tissue health and how the person is coping, then recommends. The final decision remains with you and your team.

How often should a prosthetic be replaced?

People ask this question hoping for a single number, and honesty requires two answers: one for facial silicone and one for intraoral acrylic and implant components.

For silicone facial prostheses, the clinical series indexed in PubMed most often describe a working life on the order of one to two years before a remake is needed, with color change and marginal tearing the leading reasons. Adhesive-retained pieces tend to sit at the shorter end, implant-retained pieces at the longer. Those figures come from small cohorts in specialist centers, not from a large trial or a national guideline, so treat them as a planning range rather than a promise.

For obturators and other acrylic devices, the closer parallel is denture care. MedlinePlus notes that dentures need periodic relining and eventual replacement as the mouth changes, typically over a span of years rather than months. Obturators follow that rhythm, with the caveat that a healing or irradiated cavity may shorten the interval in the first year or two after surgery.

Implant fixtures themselves, the titanium posts in bone, are designed to stay for the long term. Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic both describe dental implants as a long-lasting option when bone health and hygiene are maintained. What does wear is everything attached to them: clips, magnets and the prosthesis body. Those are serviced on a schedule set by the team.

Several factors pull the interval shorter: heavy sun exposure, smoking, a large or complex defect, ongoing radiation effects, a child who is still growing, and difficulty with cleaning. Others stretch it: implant retention, meticulous hygiene, a stable defect and a spare prosthesis that shares the wear.

The best answer to how often is therefore a conversation. Ask your prosthodontist what they see in people with a defect like yours, and plan the calendar together.

Facial prosthesis lifespan: silicone, color and edges

If you want to predict when a facial prosthesis will need replacing, watch three places: the edges, the color and the skin underneath.

Edges go first. To disappear against the face, a silicone prosthesis is thinned to a translucent feather where it meets skin. That margin is what makes it convincing and also what makes it fragile. Repeated adhesive removal, a fingernail catching during cleaning, or a shirt collar brushing an ear prosthesis will eventually cause small tears. Once the edge is ragged it cannot be glued invisibly, and the device begins to look like a device. Minor trimming can extend life briefly, but a torn margin is the single most common reason for remake in the published series.

Color drifts more slowly. Pigments in silicone fade under ultraviolet light, and the material can yellow or pick up staining from cosmetics and adhesive residue. Skin, meanwhile, tans and pales through the seasons. A prosthesis matched in winter may look pale in summer, which is why some teams make two versions for people whose skin tone shifts markedly. Surface re-tinting is possible, but it is a temporary measure over a material that is itself changing.

The skin beneath tells a different story. Adhesive irritation, trapped moisture and inadequate cleaning can inflame the bed the prosthesis rests on. Persistent redness, weeping or a change in the shape of the defect are reasons for review, both for comfort and because the surgical site needs to stay visible for surveillance in people treated for cancer.

A practical consequence: many clinicians encourage wearers to keep the previous prosthesis as a spare once a new one is delivered. It rarely fits as well, but it covers the gap when the current piece tears or is lost, and it lets the primary one rest.

Obturator prosthesis care and how intraoral prostheses age

An obturator lives in one of the most demanding environments in the body: warm, wet, bathed in bacteria, and worked by the tongue thousands of times a day. Its care resembles denture care with a few additions specific to the cavity it seals.

Daily routine matters more than material. MedlinePlus advises rinsing dentures after eating, brushing them daily with a soft brush and a non-abrasive cleaner, avoiding hot water that can warp acrylic, and soaking them overnight so they do not dry out. Obturator wearers follow the same steps, then add gentle cleaning of the defect itself as instructed by the team, usually with saline or a prescribed rinse, because crusting and debris in the cavity cause odor and inflammation. Removing the device at night rests the tissues, although some people are asked to wear it during sleep in the early postoperative period; follow your team’s instruction rather than a general rule.

Signs of aging are predictable. Fluid begins to leak into the nose during drinking, speech turns nasal again, or food packs under the plate. These point to a gap between acrylic and tissue, and a reline often resolves them. Cracks in the base, fractured teeth on a denture-obturator combination, or a persistent smell that survives cleaning usually mean the acrylic has reached the end of its life.

Radiation deserves a separate mention. Dry mouth after head and neck radiotherapy reduces the saliva that normally lubricates and protects tissue under a prosthesis, making sore spots and fungal irritation more likely. MedlinePlus lists dry mouth among the lasting effects of head and neck cancer treatment. Wearers in this group often need shorter review intervals and softer liner materials, decisions made by the prosthodontist together with the oncology team.

Implant-retained prostheses over time

Titanium implants changed what a prosthesis could be, especially for ears, noses and orbits where adhesives struggle. Understanding what osseointegration does and does not promise helps set expectations for the years ahead.

Osseointegration is the process by which living bone grows directly onto a titanium surface, anchoring the post without any cement. Mayo Clinic describes this healing phase for dental implants as taking several months, and craniofacial implants follow the same course. Once integrated, the fixture is intended to remain for the long term. Cleveland Clinic notes that dental implants can last many years with good care, and that failure, when it occurs, is often linked to infection around the implant, poor bone quality or heavy smoking.

What changes over time is everything above the bone. Abutments, the small posts that pass through skin or gum, need daily cleaning because the skin around them cannot form a natural seal. Inflammation here is the most common long-term complication; it is usually managed with improved hygiene and professional cleaning, occasionally with abutment change. Magnets lose strength, clips fatigue and O-rings compress. These are consumables, swapped at review visits on a schedule your team sets.

The prosthesis body still ages. Silicone on an implant-retained ear is spared adhesive stress, so its edges tend to survive longer, but color and ultraviolet fade run on the same clock as any other facial piece. A remake of the silicone does not usually mean new implants; the existing fixtures and bar are reused.

Irradiated bone integrates less reliably, so teams treating people after radiotherapy may recommend extra healing time, additional implants for redundancy, or adhesive retention instead. Which approach fits a given person is decided case by case by the surgeon and prosthodontist.

What people often get wrong about maxillofacial prosthesis replacement

Myths around these devices tend to come from two places: assuming a prosthesis behaves like a surgical implant, or assuming it behaves like a consumer product. Neither is right.

The first misconception is that replacement means something failed. A silicone prosthesis reaching the end of its color and edge life is doing exactly what the material was expected to do. A reline on an obturator reflects the mouth changing, not a mistake in the original fit. Framing each remake as a scheduled service rather than a setback spares a great deal of unnecessary worry.

The second is that a tighter fit is always better. An obturator that feels rock solid on delivery may be pressing on healing tissue that will resorb underneath it within weeks. Prosthodontists deliberately design for the tissue as it will be, not only as it is today.

Third, many people assume that once implants are placed, maintenance is over. Fixtures are durable, but the skin around abutments needs daily attention, and attachments wear out. Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic both emphasize ongoing hygiene and check-ups as the main determinant of implant longevity.

Fourth is the belief that a facial prosthesis can be repaired indefinitely with glue or a home kit. Household adhesives damage silicone and skin, and patching a torn margin rarely produces an invisible result. Bring it to the laboratory.

Fifth, some assume the prosthesis must be worn around the clock. Most teams recommend removal at night to rest the skin or mucosa, unless specific postoperative instructions say otherwise.

Finally, people sometimes hear that surgical reconstruction with their own tissue is always superior. Both approaches have places; a removable prosthesis allows direct inspection of a cancer site and can be revised without an operation. The choice belongs with the treating team and the person wearing it.

Questions to ask your care team

A good appointment is a two-way exchange. These questions are the ones prosthodontists say they wish more people asked before, rather than after, the first replacement.

• What type of retention do you recommend for me, and why that over the alternatives?
• Is this an interim device or my definitive prosthesis, and roughly when do you expect the tissues to be stable enough for the definitive one?
• In people with a defect like mine, how long do you usually see a prosthesis last before a reline or remake, and what shortens or lengthens that?
• Which changes should I treat as routine wear, and which should prompt an earlier call?
• How should I clean the prosthesis, the defect and any abutments, and are there products I should avoid?
• Should I remove it at night, and how should it be stored?
• Can I keep my previous prosthesis as a spare, and will you make two if my skin tone changes with the seasons?
• How does my radiation history or dry mouth affect the plan?
• How will my prosthetic reviews fit around cancer follow-up or, for a child, growth checks?
• If I lose dexterity or my health changes, what are the options for simpler care?

Write the answers down or ask for them in a care summary. The person making the prosthesis, the surgeon who created the defect and the oncologist watching for recurrence often sit in different clinics, and a written plan keeps everyone reading from the same page.

One last question is worth asking even when everything feels fine: what does a healthy defect look like, and what should I be checking in the mirror? Knowing your own baseline is the most reliable early-warning system there is, and it turns each replacement cycle from a surprise into an expected chapter.

When to call your doctor

Most changes in a prosthesis are gradual and can wait for a scheduled review. Some should not.

Contact your care team promptly if you notice any of the following: bleeding from the defect or from the skin around an implant abutment; a new lump, ulcer or white or red patch inside the cavity or on surrounding tissue that does not settle within about two weeks; increasing pain, swelling or warmth under the prosthesis; pus, foul odor or discharge that persists despite cleaning; an implant abutment that feels loose or moves; sudden new leakage of food or fluid into the nose that was not present before; numbness or altered sensation that is new; or fever alongside any of these.

Seek urgent same-day care for heavy bleeding that does not stop with gentle pressure, rapidly spreading facial swelling, difficulty swallowing or breathing, or a prosthesis component that has been inhaled or swallowed. For people treated for head and neck cancer, MedlinePlus stresses the importance of regular follow-up; any change in the appearance of the surgical site is a reason to bring an appointment forward rather than wait, because the removable prosthesis exists partly so that the site can be examined.

Less urgent but still worth a call: a torn margin, a prosthesis that no longer holds with the usual adhesive, color mismatch that bothers you, skin irritation that recurs after every wear, or a reline that has not solved a loose obturator. These are the everyday reasons for a refit or replacement visit, and raising them early usually means a smaller fix.

Every decision about adjusting, relining, remaking or changing retention rests with the prosthodontist, surgeon and oncology team who know your history. This article is general information to help you talk with them, not a substitute for their assessment.

Frequently asked questions

What does maxillofacial prosthetic mean?

A maxillofacial prosthetic is a custom-made replacement for missing or altered parts of the face, upper jaw or mouth, such as an artificial ear, nose, orbit or a palate plate called an obturator. The term combines maxillofacial, meaning the upper jaw and face, with prosthesis, meaning an artificial part. These devices are usually removable and are made by a maxillofacial prosthodontist working with surgeons and oncologists.

How often should a prosthetic be replaced?

It depends on the type. Silicone facial prostheses are most often remade after roughly one to two years in the clinical series indexed in PubMed, because color fades and edges tear. Acrylic obturators last longer but need periodic relines as the mouth changes, mirroring denture care described by MedlinePlus. Implant fixtures are long-term, while their clips and magnets are replaced as routine maintenance. Your prosthodontist sets the interval for your situation.

What is the most common maxillofacial surgery?

Oral and maxillofacial surgeons perform a wide range of operations, and in everyday practice the most frequent are dentoalveolar procedures such as removing impacted wisdom teeth and placing dental implants. Larger operations such as jaw realignment, facial trauma repair and tumor resection are less common but are the ones most likely to lead to a maxillofacial prosthesis. Frequency varies by country and by how a service is organized.

What are some examples of maxillofacial prosthetics?

Common maxillofacial prosthesis examples include the obturator, an acrylic plate sealing an opening in the palate; palatal lift and speech bulb prostheses that help a soft palate close; feeding plates for infants with cleft palate; and silicone facial prostheses replacing an ear, nose or eye socket. An ocular prosthesis, the artificial eye itself, is usually made by an ocularist and may sit inside a larger orbital prosthesis.

What is a typical facial prosthesis lifespan?

A silicone facial prosthesis typically serves for around one to two years before remake, according to specialist clinical series, with adhesive-retained pieces often at the shorter end and implant-retained pieces at the longer. Sun exposure, smoking, cosmetics and rough handling shorten that span; careful cleaning and a spare that shares the wear lengthen it. These are planning ranges from small cohorts, not guarantees.

What does obturator prosthesis care involve day to day?

Obturator care resembles denture care with extra attention to the cavity it seals. MedlinePlus advises rinsing after eating, brushing daily with a soft brush and non-abrasive cleaner, avoiding hot water and soaking overnight. Wearers also gently clean the defect as their team instructs, usually with saline or a prescribed rinse, and remove the device at night unless told otherwise. Persistent odor, leakage or sore spots warrant review.

Does replacing a prosthesis mean the first one failed?

No. Replacement is the expected end point of materials that age and tissues that keep changing. Silicone fades and its thin edges tear; acrylic loosens as bone and gum remodel. A prosthodontist treats remakes as scheduled service, and each new piece is also an opportunity to refine shape, color and retention based on what was learned from the last one.

Do implant-retained prostheses last longer?

The silicone body of an implant-retained facial prosthesis often lasts longer because it is spared daily adhesive stress at the margins, and the titanium fixtures themselves are designed for the long term, as Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic describe for dental implants. Color fade still occurs on the same schedule, and attachments such as magnets and clips wear out and are replaced. The skin around abutments needs daily cleaning to avoid inflammation.

Can I repair a torn facial prosthesis at home?

Home repair is not advised. Household glues damage medical silicone and can irritate skin, and a patched margin rarely blends invisibly. Bring the prosthesis to your prosthodontist, who can assess whether trimming, re-tinting or a full remake is the right step. Keeping your previous prosthesis as a spare helps bridge the gap while repairs or a new piece are arranged.

How does radiation therapy affect a prosthesis over time?

Radiation to the head and neck reduces saliva and slows tissue healing, effects MedlinePlus lists among the lasting consequences of treatment. Under a prosthesis this means more sore spots, higher risk of irritation and less reliable implant integration in irradiated bone. Teams often respond with softer liners, shorter review intervals and careful timing of any implant placement, decided jointly by the prosthodontist and the oncology team.

References

• Cleveland Clinic: Dental Implants
• MedlinePlus: Dentures
• MedlinePlus: Head and Neck Cancer
• NHS: Cleft lip and palate

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.