A Novel Presurgical Extraoral Orthopedic Appliance and Treatment Approach for Newborns with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate

  Objective  To introduce a novel presurgical extraoral orthopedic appliance and treatment approach for the newborns with unilateral cleft lip and palate.

  Methods  A novel presurgical extraoral orthopedic appliance was self-designed. In a 12-day-old male newborn presented with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate, an adhesive taped lip supported the novel preformed nasal stent without any oral appliance was used to decrease the alveolar gap and improve the symetry of the nose. The treatment course was 3 months.

  Results  The intraoral cleft gap was decreased by 3 mm after 3 weeks and closed at the 14th week by the gradual activations with a rounding nostril on the cleft side. The shape of the cartilaginous septum, alar cartilage tip, medial and lateral crus, and alveolar segments were molded to resemble the normal shape of these structures.

  Conclusion  The novel extraoral orthopedic appliance can effectively decrease the intraoral cleft gap and mold the oronasal tissues into normal form, and therefore can be helpful for the cleft lip and palate repair surgery in the newborns with unilateral cleft lip and palate.