WHAT ALL PARENTS SHOULD KNOW

The paramount interest of both the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health and the American Cleft Palate Association states that all team members be trained and experienced in the care of patients with craniofacial anomalies.

 SURGERY AND ORTHODONTICS

 Reconstruction in facial cleft surgery and orthodontics aim to establish normality in form and function, by moving normal tissue into normal position at appropriate ages. If necessary it involves replacing what is missing with like tissue, such as bone grafts for large bony areas

 Surgery begins in early childhood to provide normal muscle function an create an environment for normal palatal and facial growth.

 Recording the changing facial morphology and jaw function as a result of surgery and growth  is necessary to individualize treatment planning according to facial growth changes.

Orthodontists are involved in one way or another with virtually all of the treatment procedures provided by all team specialists and consult with all of the other members of the cleft and craniofacial team.

Since palatal clefts vary in the extent of osteogenic (bone)and muscular deficiencies, surgeons recognize that all clefts, although  similarly classified, are not the same.

Therefore, each case requires differential diagnosis and individualized treatment planning. What may be the treatment of choice for one patient may be totally different for another, even with the same cleft type at birth.

See The Cleft Palate Story.