morphological observations suggested that under conditions of detained palatal closure ( 1 ) fusion of the soft palatal shelves commences independently from and prior to fusion of the hard palate , ( 2 ) delayed palatal shelf fusion proceeding in the anterior direction may occur with or without remaining sickle-shaped clefts in the anterior hard palate , and ( 3 ) in fetuses with small sickle-shaped clefts , fusion of the palatal shelves with the nasal septum does not occur .
C0226901
hard palate
C0700374
palatal