Presurgical Cleft Management of Infants: A Survey of ACPA Approved and International Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Teams.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the presurgical infant orthopedics (PSIO) and gingivoperiosteoplasty (GPP) protocols across the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) approved and international cleft palate (CP) and craniofacial teams.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey.

SETTING

ACPA approved and international CP and craniofacial teams.

RESULTS

Respondents from 115 out of 215 ACPA approved and international CP and craniofacial teams permitted to contact (out of a total of 259 total teams) completed the survey (response rate  =  53.5%). There were 89 (77.4%) ACPA approved teams and the remaining international teams were mainly located in Europe (13.0%). Seventy-eight CP and craniofacial teams (67.8%) provided PSIO and 65 (83.3%) of these teams used alveolar molding (AM). Twenty-two CP and craniofacial teams (19.1%) provided GPP. A mean of 9.5  ±  2.6 different specialists were on the cleft team with the most common being orthodontists (97.4%), speech therapists (96.5%), and plastic/craniofacial surgeons (90.4%).

CONCLUSIONS

Most ACPA approved and ACPA registered international CP and craniofacial teams provided PSIO techniques by orthodontists using lip taping (LT) and AM, while few provide GPP.