You'll find hundreds of files on cleft lip, cleft palate here on widesmiles.org.

This one is about: Van Der Woude's Syndrome

(c) 1996 Wide Smiles
This Document is from WideSmiles Website - www.widesmiles.org
Reprint in whole or in part, with out written permission from Wide Smiles
is prohibited. Email: widesmiles@aol.com

Van Der Woude's Syndrome

Van Der Woude is an autosomal dominant condition (meaning 50/50 chance of passing it on) that includes some or all of the following characteristics: cleft lip, cleft palate, missing teeth, lip pits.

Sometimes the affect can be very minimal and so it may seem to skip a generation, but upon closer inspection of the parent you find some expression of the gene (like a tooth that never grew in, or a tiny almost unnoticeable lip pit or a pin-hole in the palate, for instance.) But, aside from the occasional spontaneous mutation of the gene, a child with Van Der Woude's generally has a parent with Van Der Woude's. If you have the gene, you will have the condition. You cannot simply be a carrier.

The actual gene that causes Van Der Woude's Syndrome has been located and plotted.

Joanne