Five Years of Successful Cleft Lips and Palates Surgeries Celebrated

On Oct. 24 LLU School of Dentistry will celebrate five years of cleft lips and palates surgery with a reunion of kids who have undergone the procedure known as Presurgical Nasal Alveolar Molding (PNAM). A sizable group of preschoolers and their families will assemble Friday, Oct. 24 on the fourth floor of Loma Linda University’s Centennial Complex located at 24760 Stewart Street in Loma Linda between 9 a.m. and noon, to celebrate the successful repair of their cleft lips and palates. These procedures were performed at the LLU School of Dentistry’s Advanced Specialty Education Program in Pediatric Dentistry with an advanced technique known as Pre-surgical Nasal Alveolar Molding (PNAM). PNAM is a pre-surgical orthopedic treatment that employs a retainer-like device to enhance the effectiveness of surgery and drastically reduce the number of surgeries required to achieve a functionally and cosmetically satisfying repair. Since 2009, under the direction of Jung-Wei (Anna) Chen, DDS, MS, PhD, the LLU School of Dentistry’s craniofacial team has performed 84 PNAM-augmented unilateral and bilateral cleft lip repairs. Loma Linda University School of Dentistry’s craniofacial team is one of only three providers in Southern California (and the only one in the Inland Empire) that offers the greatly reduced number of surgeries and improved esthetic outcomes that PNAM makes possible. Loma Linda University’s PNAM patient alumni reunion will feature free oral health screenings from 9 to 11 a.m. during which treats, games, and gifts will entertain and celebrate the young PNAM alumni. From 11 a.m. to noon, reunion photos will be taken of the young alumni—with each other and with their clinicians—as gifts for their photo albums; and School of Dentistry clinicians and administrators will address the gathering and announce the formation of a PNAM alumni support group for cleft lip and cleft palate patients and their families. Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common birth defects in the United States, with approximately 4,440 cleft-lip babies born in the United States each year with or without a cleft palate. Pre-surgical orthopedic treatment of the cleft lip and palate has become the treatment of choice for a growing number of craniofacial teams that have seen the benefits of using a nasal alveolar molding appliance prior to surgical lip repair. The PNAM appliance not only molds the affected intraoral and extra-oral structures, but also provides nasal support to mold the infant’s collapsed nostrils.