Comprehensive Cleft Care Program – Smile Train Project

Comprehensive Cleft Care Program – SMILE TRAIN Project

A dedicated facility for the comprehensive management of children born with cleft lip and palate has been initiated in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Kattankulathur. The cleft care is carried out by a multidisciplinary team comprising Cleft Reconstructive Surgeons, Plastic Surgeons, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Anaesthesiologists, Peadiatricians, ENT Surgeons, Orthodontists, Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists, Clinical Psychologists, Community Medicine Specialists, Nutritionists, Nursing staff and other support services such as the Department of Radiology, Blood Bank, etc. In pursuit of excellence, the cleft care program of SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Kattankulathur, has partnered with ‘Smile Train’ with effect from February 1, 2022, onwards. Smile Train is an international organisation devoted exclusively to the noble cause of helping provide free treatment for any child born with a cleft lip and palate through credentialed hospitals worldwide. This partnership helps in establishing the cleft care program in our institution as the “SRM Centre of Excellence for Cleft Lip and Palate” for the provision of safe and quality care delivered on par with international standards. We have successfully provided free cleft lip and palate treatment to 70 underprivileged cleft lip and palate-born children. The most common deformity of the face is a cleft lip and/or cleft palate on one or both sides. This congenital deformity happens during the 8th to 12th weeks of fetal development. The possibility of early diagnosis and treatment planning starts with prenatal diagnosis by radiologists, obstetricians, and gynaecologists and postnatal first consultations for evaluation and counselling with paediatricians and cleft reconstructive surgeons. In a cleft team, feeding issues can be easily addressed by qualified nurses and nutritionists who train the mother and family members to use specialized feeding bottles and demonstrate correct feeding postures and techniques to provide necessary nourishment. A healthy cleft lip or palate child with adequate weight and height is often ready to undergo a surgical reconstructive procedure for a cleft lip as early as 3 months and 9 months for a cleft palate. In addition to the correction of the cleft, issues related to speech, hearing, dentition, facial growth, etc. will have to be dealt with by a child with a cleft during their growth and development. Later secondary reconstructive surgery, including Alveolar Bone Grafting (ABG), Rhinoplasty, jaw corrective surgery, etc., may be required at different ages from adolescence through adulthood. In addition to the correction of the cleft, issues related to speech, hearing, dentition, facial growth, etc. will have to be dealt with in a child with a cleft during their growth and development. The need for long-term, multidisciplinary intervention has driven us to establish a comprehensive cleft care program with the opportunity to evolve as a Centre of Excellence. The ultimate objective is “to provide all the required care for a child born with a cleft lip palate and craniofacial deformity addressed under a single roof by specialised professionals, enabling smiles across faces.”