Cleft and craniofacial anomalies are best treated by various specialists forming a team. Team approach provides the best treatment and reduces the burden of families of multiple visits to various specialists. The cleft and craniofacial team involves

            Surgeon                                                           Otolaryngologist
            Pediatrician                                                      Speech and Language Pathologist
            Pedodontist                                                     Nurse co-coordinator
            Orthodontist                                                    Psychologists
            Prosthodontist
 

Surgeon
The surgeon is often leading the team, who can be plastic surgeon or maxillofacial surgeon. Surgeon performs various surgeries like cleft lip repair, cleft palate repair, surgeries for nasality of speech, bone graft for gum, nose correction, surgery on the facial bones to improve the appearance and various aesthetic correction as needed. The experience of surgeon and commitment to cleft patients is very important.

Pediatrician
Pediatrician is a very important member of the team, who help to look after the overall well-being of the child. She guides the parents for the feeding problem, regular health problems like cough and cold. She also helps to guide parents for the treatment if there are any associated problems. She also helps in perioperative period to take care of these children.

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Pedodontist
Pedodontist helps and guides the parents to take of child's teeth so that teeth are healthy and strong. He helps to restore the damaged or caries by filling and other procedure. He works closely with orthodontist to keep the oral hygiene while orthodontic treatment is carried out.

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Orthodontist
The orthodontist is a very important member of the team. They sometimes help to restore the shape of gum bones even before surgery is carried out on a baby. Their main role begins after the mixed dentition when they help to realign the teeth. With help of various clips and wires they bring the teeth in proper position in relation to the lower teeth.

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Prosthodontist
The prosthodontist works very closely with the orthodontist and the surgeon to provide the necessary appliances to cover the defect on the palate. They also help to provide prosthesis for missing teeth. If necessary they provide special appliances to improve the speech.

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Otolaryngologist (Ear Nose & Throat Doctor)
The ENT doctor takes care of ears especially in early childhood when fluid collection is a common problem in children with cleft palate. If necessary short surgical procedure is necessary to drain the fluid out of the ears.
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Speech and Language Pathologist
The Speech and Language Pathologist plays very important role for cleft palate children who are likely to need some help during speech development. They counsel parents before surgery and evaluate the speech after the surgical correction of palate. If necessary, speech therapy is given depending upon the child's unique need. They also help for the rehabilitation of these children.   
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Nurse Coordinator
She is an important link between parents and doctors and among the various departments. She counsel parents for feeding of the child and tackles various social problems bothering the parents.

Psychologist
The psychologist helps the child and parents to tackle the various psychological problems because of anomaly itself and various social aspects. Many children face lots of problem regarding self-esteem, social adjustment and accepting the deformities.

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