Secondary Cleft Palate Repair in a Dachshund Dog Case Study

This 8 week old puppy presented to Orlando Veterinary Dentistry with a cleft palate involving the hard and soft palate, also know as a secondary palatal defect. Due to minor signs at the time the surgery was delayed until 16 weeks of age to provide more tissue for closure.

The soft palate defect is seen here.

The nasal cavity can be seen between the edges of the hard palate defect. The tan debris is food caught within the nasal cavity.

The soft palate is closed in two layers, nasal and palatal after splitting the two with metzenbaum scissors.

The palatal mucosa is dissected off of the bone. A 1 mm debridement of the margin with a diamond bur allows for healing prior to epithelial migration into the defect.

An incision is made along both arcades for the length of the defect.

A full thickness palatal graft obtained sparing the major palatine artery.

The edges are opposed and sutured with simple interrupted suture. I used to close the hard palate mucosa by burying the suture, however I found this to be unnecessary.

Healing of the soft palate cleft at 4 weeks is complete.

Healing of the hard palate cleft at 4 weeks is complete.