Foreword

Article Outline

• Copyright

While children with orofacial clefts have been described for millennia, the comprehensive care of these complex children and their families remains a challenge for 21st century clinicians. Dr. Eileen Kasten and her interdisciplinary team from the Cleft Lip and Palate Clinic at The Children's Medical Center of Dayton have compiled a detailed overview of this important area. Dr. Kasten and her team repeatedly emphasize the importance of the primary care clinician in the care of children with orofacial clefts and this article was written to assist primary care clinicians with the management of their patients' and families' many concerns including early feeding/nutritional problems, recurrent otitis media, speech, and dental problems.

This issue contains highly relevant information regarding the care of children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate from a number of disciplines including speech and language, nutrition, audiology, oral surgery, and many more, including Dr. Eileen Kasten, a developmental pediatrician. About 6500 children with orofacial cleft(s) are born in the country each year; the primary care clinician who is striving to provide exemplary care for one of these 6500 children will find this issue an invaluable resource.