Effect on Tongue Movement During Sucking of Cleft Lip and Palate Infant with Using Infant Palatal Plate Shaped Sucking Fossa

Abstract

Infants have a cavity in their palate. The cavity is called sucking fossa and plays a significant role in grasping the nipple during sucking action. In many cleft lip and palate infants, a palatal plate is often used to help their feeding function. We conjectured that a palatal plate shaped sucking fossa activates their tongue movement during sucking action and facilitates effective sucking.
The aim of this study was to verify the effect of the palatal plate shaped sucking fossa （improved type） on the tongue movement of cleft lip and palate infants during sucking for the purpose of ensuring effective sucking. The subjects were eight cleft lip and palate infants with no disease influencing sucking function except the cleft lip and palate. The tongue movements of 8 cleft lip and palate infants during bottle feeding were recorded by an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus under two conditions: with the existing type of palatal plate, and with the improved type of palatal plate. Eight specific points on the tongue were marked in each ultrasonic dynamic image （B-mode） of the tongue movements. Movements of those points were processed by DippMotionPro to draw the movements as waveforms.
The amount of displacement and period of movement were measured by 10 stable waveforms at each of the eight points for all subjects. The average displacement and period with the improved type were 24.7±2.3mm and 0.82 ±0.02s, while the averages with the existing type were 23.4±0.9mm and 0.78±0.04s, respectively. These results indicated that the tongue movement of cleft lip and palate infants was greater and more stable when using the improved type. This finding suggests that the palatal plate shaped sucking fossa induces effective sucking in cleft lip and palate infants.