The UMC Cleft Palate & Craniofacial Anomaly Team, along with the West Texas
Craniofacial Center of Excellence, creates a seasoned team of
professionals who provide volunteer services to children born with cleft
lip and palate or craniofacial anomaly twice a month. As the region's only American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) approved team, the investment that these professionals make in the lives of each child impacted by their intervention is invaluable.
When palatal shelves fail to fully come together from either side of
the mouth and fuse during the first months of development, a resulting
cleft palate produces challenges with eating, speech development,
hearing, formation of optimal dentition, and cosmetics. It takes
individuals with strong skill sets in management of these challenges to
work collectively to improve the life of a child born with cleft lip and
palate. Similarly, when a child is born with a deformity of the head
and facial bones, intensive collective intervention, which may include
extensive reconstructive surgery, is warranted.
The team of professionals we have assembled for management of these
issues is second to none. Led by Joshua Demke, MD, the UMC Cleft Palate & Craniofacial Anomaly Team and West Texas Craniofacial Center of
Excellence provide exceptional quality of care, recommendations, and
follow through to children and families throughout West Texas, the Texas Panhandle, and Eastern New Mexico.