A report on the operations for fissures of the palatine vault / by Thomas D. Mütter.

  • Mütter, Thomas D. (Thomas Dent), 1811-1859.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A report on the operations for fissures of the palatine vault / by Thomas D. Mütter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    28 mutter's cases of cleft palate. alveolar process, although some benefit may unquestionably result, and the cleft or clefts will be reduced in size. We are first of all, therefore, to make the lip in the usual way, and if necessary remove by the cutting forceps any projection of bone that interferes. It will be useless here to apply pres- sure to the projection, or expect to reduce it by Gensoul's method; and besides, the objection to the operation in young persons will not obtain in the cases of adults, inasmuch as the artificial process and teeth may be adjusted as soon as the parts heal. In young persons, from the fact that the parts are constantly increasing in size, it is both difficult and very expensive to remedy the loss of substance by artificial means. The operation upon the lip being completed, we next endea- vour to remedy, by some one of the usual methods, the cleft in the soft palate, and as much as possible of that in the hard. Usually, and indeed in almost every case of double fissure, very little can be accomplished by an operation, and we have to rely upon a metallic plate (either gold or platina) for the closure of the openings in the palatine vault. The treatment in such cases, therefore, may be divided into three stages. In the first, we close the lip; in the second, the ve- lum palati and a portion of the cleft in the hard palate are attended to; and finally, the metallic obturator furnished by a skilful dentist, closes the opening between the nostril and mouth.