Multidisciplinary Cleft Care.

The history of cleft team care dates back to 1938. The team composition and functionality has changed over the years but maintained the focus of patient-centered care and outcomes based treatment. The American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) established guidelines for multidisciplinary cleft care in 1993 which have been revised and updated as recently as 2022. THe ACPA sets a minimum team composition of a cleft coordinator, surgeon, orthodontist and speech-language pathologist. Access to additional specialists is also required to be considered an approved team. Cleft Teams meet at regular intervals to assess and evaluate speech, feeding, nutrition and growth, hearing facial esthetics, sugical outcomes, psychosocial well-being , and quality of life.