Objective: Overall objective is to help dental students develop their knowledge base by becoming more efficient users of resources and services available to them at the Knowledge Center/Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library. The students will:

  • Apply appropriate tools to answer specific clinical questions
  • Explore select databases, e-books and print collections available
  • Understand the fundamentals of creating a search strategy
  • Know where to go for additional assistance

 

Below is a brief overview of the topic, dental care for children with cleft lip and palate. It features utilizing resources available at the Health Sciences Library (HSL) to find answers to clinical questions.

Abstract

Cleft lip and palate affects roughly 1 in 600 children and predisposes patients to a lifetime of functional and esthetic discrepancies. Disparities in access as well as quality of care exist worldwide, with many children in developing countries unable to receive treatment. In the late 20th century, humanitarian medical missions emerged as a means of delivering surgical expertise to patients in resource-limited settings. These early missions took on a patient-centered approach focused solely on cleft repair, with little emphasis on treating the dental abnormalities that arose after the initial surgery. However, modern cleft care is characterized by a multidisciplinary, team-based approach with significant dental involvement. Recent cleft lip and palate endeavors have shifted from a mission-based approach to a developmental approach facilitating growth of an independent care center. This strategy focuses on creating an institution with expanded access to dental services, thus facilitating the long-term treatment inherent in modern cleft care. One clinic in a developing country that has experienced successful transitioning from a mission site to an independent craniofacial clinic is Operation Smile’s Cleft Comprehensive Care Clinic in Guwahati, India. This article will summarize the rationale and planning of the clinic, underscore the team-based approach required in longitudinal treatment of cleft lip and palate, and demonstrate how treatment methodology may differ in resource-limited settings by outlining the therapeutic considerations of each provider in the Guwahati Clinic.

From: J Craniofac Surg. 2014 Sep;25(5):1626-31.

Longitudinal treatment of cleft lip and palate in developing countries: dentistry as part of a multidisciplinary endeavor. Lee CC, Jagtap RR, Deshpande GS.

Questions:

  1. Are there any textbooks that provide an overview of cleft lip and cleft palate?
  2. What are the orthodontic treatments for malocclusions in children with cleft lip and palate?
  3. Where can we find CATs (Critically Appraised Topics) on cleft lip and cleft palate?
  4. Are there any anatomy resources that cover the ‘Head and Neck’ and would be of special interest to dental students?

 

Click HERE to see some examples of ways in which you can use Library resources to find answers to the questions above.