Cleft lip and cleft palate, also known as orofacial cleft, is a group of conditions that includes cleft lip (CL), cleft palate (CP), and both together (CLP). A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate is when the roof of the mouth contains an opening into the nose. These disorders can result in feeding problems, speech problems, hearing problems, and frequent ear infections. Less than half the time the condition is associated with other disorders.
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a network of 22 non-profit medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients' ability to pay.
Operation Smile is a nonprofit medical service organization founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee, Jr. and his wife Kathy Magee. It is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Smile Train is a nonprofit organization and charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates.
ReSurge International, formerly known as Interplast, is the first international humanitarian organization to provide free reconstructive surgery in developing countries, primarily to children with cleft lip and palate and burn scar contractures.
Ellen R. Cohn is an associate dean and associate professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, with a secondary faculty appointment at University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. She is a faculty member of the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine.
The Cleft Lip and Palate Association also known as CLAPA is a charity registered in England and is the only UK-wide voluntary organisation specifically helping those with, and affected by, cleft lip and palate.
Operation Kids is a public 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1999 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Operation Kids provides customized philanthropic services at no cost to donors seeking to give money to children's organizations.
Dr. William P. Magee, Jr., D.D.S., M.D., an American plastic and craniofacial surgeon, founded Operation Smile in 1982, with his wife, Kathleen S. Magee, B.S.N., M.Ed., M.S.W., and serves as the organization's Chief Executive Officer. Operation Smile is a private, non-profit volunteer medical services organization providing reconstructive surgery and related health care to indigent children and young adults in developing countries and the United States.
Donato D. LaRossa is a medical doctor and Professor Emeritus of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
CURE International is a Christian nonprofit organization based in Spring Lake, Michigan. CURE's efforts are focused on providing medical care to children suffering primarily from orthopedic and neurological conditions. The organization's stated mission is "healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God." The organization operates hospitals in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, the Philippines, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and Zambia. The organization also runs specialty programs for clubfoot and hydrocephalus in an additional 19 countries including Bangladesh and Honduras.
S. M. Balaji is a dental and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He is the only Indian to be listed in the Top 10 Dental Scientist. He specialises in repair of cleft palate, rhinoplasty, ear reconstruction, jaw reconstruction, facial asymmetry correction, dental implantology, maxillofacial surgery and Craniofacial surgery.
In the Philippines, the Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF) is an organization of Kapampangans living outside the region. It was founded in 1987 by 35 people who were inspired by President Corazon Aquino; in 2012, 11 of its founders remained. The KDF has created a rural-industrialization program known as RICH and has provided social and health services to poor residents of Pampanga through its HELP program, with assistance from international and non-governmental organizations and government agencies.
Mending Kids is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides surgeries to children across the world while training local medical communities to become self-sustaining. It brings surgical mission teams of doctors, nurses and volunteers who donate their time and services to travel to developing countries to perform procedures that range from pediatric open-heart, neuro, ENT, orthopedic or general surgeries on impoverished or orphaned children while establishing sustainable teaching programs. Since 2006, it has helped thousands of children in 54 countries around the world, including the United States. The organization currently operates in Burbank, California.
The Children's Surgical Centre is a non-profit, non-governmental, and non-religious surgical hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and registered as a 501(c)(3) in the United States. Founded in 1998, the centre aims to improve the quality of life for disabled children and adults by providing free rehabilitative surgery.
Operation Smile China Medical Mission (OSCMM) is a non-profit organisation that provides reconstructive surgery for the underprivileged children with cleft lips and / or palates in China.
Hermann F. Sailer is a German maxillofacial surgeon. He leads the Klinik Professor Sailer in Zurich and is the founder of the Cleft-Children International Foundation.
The Overseas Plastic Surgery Appeal is a registered charity in the UK, that exists to provide free facial surgery for poor children and young adults in Pakistan. The OPSA team operate on facial abnormalities including cleft lip and palate.
Alliance for Smiles (AfS) is a nonproft organization founded in 2004 in San Francisco. They provide free surgical repairs for cleft lip and cleft palate anomalies in under-served areas of the world, with missions mostly in the continents of Asia and Africa. They also work to develop treatment centers where continuous follow-up care can be provided.
