A new cleft palate repair.

Cleft palate can be repaired by a palatal mucoperiosteal flap, but we have devised a new technique for cleft palate repair using a wide mucoperiosteal flap with an alveolar ridge mucosa and a cleft margin flap. This technique leaves the mucosa of the nasal cavity and vomer intact. The results include (1) good velopharyngeal competence and normal articulation, (2) few cases of fistula formation, and (3) minimal maxillary retardation.