IN THE congenital deformity of a cleft palate three anatomical components are absent in varying degrees in the soft palate and in the hard palate. In the hard palate these components are the mucoperiosteum of the hard palate, bone, and the mucous membrane of the floor of the nose. In the soft palate, the components involved are the buccal mucous membrane, the musculature of the soft palate, and the mucous membrane of the floor of the nose. There is considerable variation in the quantity of loss of each component. The size of the cleft and the resulting functional deformity are also determined by the formation of the maxilla and the premaxilla. Congenital splaying of the maxilla adds to the deformity and widens the cleft, whereas the prominence and protrusion of the premaxilla commonly found in bilateral cleft lip and palate accentuate the deformity of the lip. This adds to the