Natal teeth with cleft palate: A case report

Teeth that are present in newborn infants are called "natal teeth". In some cases, the teeth erupt within the first 4 weeks following delivery. These teeth are termed as "neonatal teeth". The incidence of the appearance of natal and neonatal teeth has been reported to be between once every 1000 and once every 6000 births. Natal teeth pose problems in feeding and substantially high risk of aspiration or swallowing by the infant if they are loose. They may also cause irritation and trauma to the infant's soft tissues. Under these circumstances, natal teeth need to be extracted. In this article, a case report is presented where natal teeth were present in the mandibular incisor region along with cleft palate leading to difficulty in feeding. Because the tooth caused problems in the nursing process and ran a risk of aspiration, it was removed . Key words: natal tooth, neonatal tooth, cleft palate.