Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness Series: Part One

Honoring the Origins, the Imprints, and the Path Ahead

Each July, we enter a season of awareness: Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month. But to truly honor this space, we must move beyond definitions and diagnosis, and into a fuller understanding of what these differences reflect about development, systemic health, generational patterns, and identity.

This is the first in a four-part series where I’ll guide you through cleft and craniofacial conditions using the combined lenses of biological dentistry, early embryology, nutritional terrain, airway and facial development, and holistic energy systems. This week lays the foundation for the entire series by exploring what these conditions truly are; their history, how and when they develop, and what they reveal when we know how to read the body’s messages.

What Are Cleft and Craniofacial Differences?

Cleft lip and cleft palate occur when the tissues of the face and mouth do not fully come together during fetal development. This merging usually takes place between the fourth and tenth week of gestation. When the process is interrupted, it results in an opening of the upper lip, the roof of the mouth, or both. The separation can affect one or both sides of the face and may range from a small notch to a more pronounced opening extending into the nose and jaw.

Craniofacial differences also include variations in the formation of the jaw, ears, nasal passages, skull, eyes, or forehead. These conditions may or may not include clefting but still originate from the same developmental tissues that form the lower face, mouth, and airway.

During early pregnancy, two key structures, called the first and second pharyngeal arches, give rise to many of these features. These arches are responsible for forming parts of the face, lower jaw, ears, neck, and throat. The health of the mother’s body, her nutrient stores, oxygen levels, and even her emotional state all play a role in how well these tissues form and organize. The early face, in many ways, reflects the internal environment of the womb during those first sacred weeks.

How This Connects to the Body’s Energy Systems

From a holistic standpoint, these early forming arches are influenced by the same systems that support digestion, circulation, and development.

The first pharyngeal arch helps form the lower jaw, ears, and muscles of chewing. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this area is associated with digestion, structure, and nourishment. If a person has trouble receiving or processing nutrients, it may be reflected here, not just in utero but throughout life.

The second pharyngeal arch forms parts of the throat, side of the face, and muscles involved in facial expression. This area reflects how we relate to others and how we process heat, fluids, and emotions. It holds the key to voice, connection, and presence.

In the coming week, I’ll walk through how these early systems connect to broader concepts like life-force energy, blood flow, digestive strength, and how imbalance here can lead to structural changes in the body, including facial underdevelopment or incomplete closure during pregnancy.

Is This Becoming More Common?

Globally, cleft lip and palate affect about one in every 700 births. In the United States, the number is around one in every 1,600 babies. While these numbers have remained stable for the most part, what has changed is the number of children born with facial and airway differences that do not meet the criteria for cleft but still signal underdevelopment.

We are seeing more children with narrow palates, high vaulted roofs of the mouth, recessed jaws, tongue ties, and airway restrictions that lead to mouth breathing and disturbed sleep. These are often dismissed as minor, but they are signs that the body did not receive everything it needed to fully form the midline, the central organizing line of the body, in early development.

In Week 3 of this series, we will look closely at these "subtle" expressions. You’ll learn how to recognize the signs and understand what they might be trying to tell you, whether in your own child or in yourself.

A Historical and Cultural Perspective

Cleft lip and palate have been recorded for thousands of years. Ancient Chinese and Egyptian writings, as well as preserved skulls from pre-Columbian South America, show evidence of these conditions. In some cultures, facial differences were seen as marks of uniqueness or even spiritual significance, while in others, they were met with fear or stigma.

Some of the earliest known cases of individuals surviving with cleft palate date back over 2,000 years. These individuals lived in communities that somehow supported them, long before surgical correction was possible. This tells us that cleft conditions have always been a part of the human story, and that healing does not rely on medicine alone. Relationship, care, and community matter just as much.

In modern times, surgical repair has become routine, though many children still undergo a series of complex procedures and therapies that continue into adolescence or adulthood. But what often goes unspoken is the emotional impact, the loss of facial identity, and the energetic imprint left from those early disruptions, a thread we will gently explore in Week 4.

Why Awareness Alone Is Not Enough

Awareness must lead us somewhere deeper. It must bring insight and compassion, not only for those born with cleft conditions but also for those silently living with the consequences of facial underdevelopment that has never been named. These are the children who struggle to nurse or breathe through their nose, the adults who carry tension in their jaw or feel disconnected from their voice or presence.

Cleft and craniofacial differences are not cosmetic concerns. They are windows into how a body develops under stress or depletion. They are reminders that nourishment, rhythm, and environment matter, especially before and during pregnancy.

Next week, we will go deeper into why these conditions happen. We’ll talk about the role of gene mutations like MTHFR, nutrient depletion, stress hormones, and environmental toxins. We’ll also look at how ancient systems like blood strength, digestive vitality, and inherited essence help shape the face before a baby even has a heartbeat.

This Week’s Invitation

If you are someone who was born with a cleft or facial difference, or if you are raising a child who was, know that your experience is valid and sacred. If your child has a narrow palate, tongue tie, or recessed jaw, you are not imagining it. If you feel like your story or your child’s story hasn’t been fully understood, you are not alone.

This week is about recognizing that the face is not separate from the soul. It is a mirror of how we came into the world, and how we were shaped by it.

Thank you for being here.
If you want to follow this journey through the rest of the month, you’re invited to subscribe, check back every Sunday, or join the conversation in community. Together we’ll uncover what the body is trying to say, and how we can begin to listen with reverence and understanding.