Craniofacial Team

From Freepedia

A craniofacial team is a team of medical specialists to treat children (sometimes adults) with facial deformities like lip cleft or palate cleft.

In general each doctor can refer a patient to a craniofacial team. In practice often it is the paediatrician who diagnoses the child immediately after birth. After referral the child is seen by the plastic surgeon or craniofacial surgeon, who will diagnose after examination. X-rays and lab research may be necessary.

Within the craniofacial team the child is referred to the ENT-specialist in case of hearing problems, to the speech pathologist in case of speech problems etc. Mutual consensus on treatment by different specialists is important.

Team meetings and smaller team consultations are held, mostly involving one or two specialists who monitor and supervise a child for a longer period of time. Mutual team consultation results in a more optimal treatment since often more than one target area is treated at once.

1 Team members
2 Why a team?
3 External links
- 3.1 Craniofacial teams in the United States
- 3.2 Craniofacial teams in Europe

Team members

Facial deformities require various specialist treatments. These range from surgery to psychology. A typical team:

Reconstructive/Plastic surgeon. A plastic surgeon with specific training and experience in surgery of the craniofacial skeleton and of the so-called soft tissues being skin, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and organs like the nose, eyelids, mouth and ears.
Oral/Maxillofacial surgeon. He/she is co-responsible for the surgical correction of the malformation of the upper and lower jaws.
Otolaryngologist (ENT). Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist. Many malformations involve defects in the airway passage, inflammation of the middle ear and/or hearing and speech defects. Such complaints are treated by the ENT-Specialist. He/she is also responsible for the hearing tests and examination of the speech defect.
Audiologist.
Pediatrician.
Pediatric dentist.
Orthodontist. As member of the craniofacial team the orthodontist takes care of the non-surgical treatment of the malposition of the jaws. He/she is responsible for the pre and post operative treatment of jaw surgery and monitors growth by means of X-rays and plaster casts.
Prosthodontist.
Speech pathologist.
Psychologist. He/she monitors the child's development and teaches the child how to deal with the social aspects of a facial deformity. The psychologist also aids the parents when needed.
Clinical Genetist. After thorough family research he/she will advise on heredity with regard to a syndrome. Sometimes a final diagnosis can be defined only after genetic examination (see also Genetic linkage).
Social Worker. He/she is counsellor of the parents and family when there are problems resulting from the syndrome, treatment and/or hospitalisation. She/he acts as an advisor and is able to contact various official authorities, in and outside the hospital.
Nursing Officer. From hospitalisation till discharge the nursing officer is responsible for the daily health care and nurture of the child. The nursing officer also advised the parents with feeding difficulties due to cleft.

All team members have deputies in order to guarantee continuity.

Why a team?

Mainly twofold: first there are many aspects to cleft that parents might not be aware of, all common specialists are available in one team. Second, many aspects require more than one specialist to decide treatment, with all specialists available at the same time decisions are easier to make and instead of visiting all specialists at a time.