doiSerbia

Presurgical orthodontic treatment of patients with complete bilateral cleft lip and palate

Radojičić Julija (Faculty of Medicine, Niš)
Tanić Tatjana (Faculty of Medicine, Niš)
Jović Nebojša (Military Medical Academy, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Belgrade + University of Defence, Faculty of Medicine of the Military Medical Academy, Belgrade)
Čutović Tatjana (Military Medical Academy, Department of Orthodontics, Belgrade + University of Defence, Faculty of Medicine of the Military Medical Academy, Belgrade)
Papadopoulos Konstantinos (Specialistic Orthodontic Practice, Katerini, Greece)

Introduction. Cleft lips and palates are the most common congenital orofacial anomaly. This type of clefts is the most severe from the orthodontic-surgical therapy aspect. Case report. A female newborn with a complete cleft of the primary and the secondary palate was admitted to the clinic, where a multiple-role orthodontic device was specially designed and applied to primarily manage the closure of the existing cleft and help to improve the suckling ability of the baby. Besides the fact that it allows breastfeeding, it has a significant orthodontic effect, too. Conclusion. Specificity of this device is the lack of extraoral fixation. What can easily be observed is a progressive reduction of the cleft between the separated segments and the premaxilla retrusion. It, thus, allows the creation of much better conditions for further surgical management of the said defect.

Keywords: cleft lip, cleft palate, infant newborn, palatal obturators