About your Cleft Team
Your Cleft Team is a group of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who have extra training in cleft lip and palate. They all work together to look after you and give you the treatment you need.
They are sometimes called an ‘MDT‘ or ‘Multi-Disciplinary Team’. A ‘discipline’ is the kind of medicine that a medical professional is specially trained in. For example, surgery, nursing, or orthodontics. A Multi-Disciplinary Team means a team which is made up of lots of different kinds of medical professionals.
Sometimes, you will need to meet with the full Cleft Team. This can be intimidating, as there will be a lot of medical professionals in the room paying attention to you. But remember that they are all there because they want you to have the best possible treatment and to feel as good as possible. It can help if you write down any questions you want to ask beforehand.
You can also ask for support from the Clinical Psychologist. They can help you to talk through any worries you might have about talking to your Cleft Team. Because they’re a part of the Cleft Team themselves, they can talk to the other doctors and nurses for you and get answers to your questions.
Guide to health professionals
Paediatric (pee-dee-ah-trick)
Paediatrician (pee-dee-ah-trish-un)
A doctor or nurse with ‘Paediatric’ in
their title has had extra training in looking after babies and children.
For example, a ‘Paediatric Surgeon’ is a surgeon who has trained to operate on babies and children.
Consultant (kon-sull-tant)
Many doctors and nurses have
‘consultant’ as part of their title. This
means that they’ve had extra training in
a particular area of medicine or research
and can offer expert help.
For example, a ‘Consultant
Orthodontist’ has all the same training
as a regular orthodontist, but has also
had extra training to become an expert
in a particular condition like cleft.
This is a special nurse who knows all about cleft lip and palate. They help parents and carers when they find out their baby will have a cleft.
When the baby is born, they help parents and carers learn how to use the special bottles to feed their baby. They also help families as their baby grows up and offer expert advice and support.
A surgeon is a king of doctor who does operations. A ‘cleft surgeon’ has had lots of training about operating on people born with a cleft.
A cleft surgeon will have repaired your cleft when you were a baby.
They go through the same training
as a regular doctor and then have
lots of extra training and
experience to become a surgeon.
Because of tradition, surgeons in
the UK are called ‘Mr., Mrs., or Ms.’
instead of ‘Dr.’, but they are still medical doctors.
Maxillofacial (max-ill-oh-fay-shul)
A Maxillofacial Surgeon’ (or ‘Max Fax
Surgeon’ for short) is a surgeon who has special training to make them an expert on operating on the face and jaws.
If you decide to have an operation on your jaws when you’re older, you will very likely talk to a Max Fax surgeon about this.
Anaesthetist (uh-nees-tha-tist)
Anaesthetic (ah-nuss-thet-ick)
‘Anaesthetic’ is a kind of medicine that sends you into a deep sleep while you are having an operation and makes sure you don’t feel a thing.
An Anaesthetist is a special doctor who gives you this medicine.
They will check that you are fit and healthy and able to have the operation, and they will look after you during your operation.
The Anaesthetist will also be able to give you medicine after the operation to help if you feel sore or have pain anywhere.
This is a special dentist who looks after children’s teeth.
If you’re seeing one as part of your Cleft Team, they will have had special training in looking after the teeth of children born with a cleft.
Consultant (kon-sull-tant)
Orthodontist (orth-oh-don-tist)
An orthodontist will look at how your jaw
grows, how your teeth develop, and how your teeth line up. If you need braces, the orthodontist will make sure these are fitted properly and are doing what they need to.
A Consultant Orthodontist has had extra training to make them an expert. The one in your Cleft Team is an expert in cleft lip and palate.
If you need an Alveolar Bone Graft operation, an orthodontist might use braces to help you get ready for the operation and will check your teeth are in the right place when you recover.
A restorative dentist works mostly with adult patients to repair or replace damaged or missing teeth.
They might also make a special plate which fits in the palate and can help people with their speech.
Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) can help people learn to make certain sounds or change how these sounds are made.
The Speech and Language Therapist in your Cleft Team is an expert on helping people born with a cleft to change how they speak.
A cleft can change the shape of your mouth and how you make sounds.
A specialist SLT will check in while growing up to see if you need help to speak clearer. If you do, they will teach you different ways to make sounds, as well as some exercises to do at home which will help your speech.
An ENT Specialist is an expert in conditions and illnesses to do with the ears, nose and throat
Audiologist (aw-dee-ol-uh-jist)
Audiological (aw-dee-ol-uh-jee-kul)
An ‘Audiologist’ is a kind of doctor who helps with hearing.
If you were born with a cleft palate, you are more likely to have issues with your hearing. The Audiologist with your Cleft Team can tell you if you have any issues with your hearing and give you treatment (like hearing aids) to help you hear better.
The administration team makes appointments for patients and makes sure you are seen at the right time by the right people. They also work to make sure everything in the Cleft Team is running as it should.
Geneticist (jen-eh-teh-sist)
‘Genes’ are things in our body that we get from our parents, such as the colour of our eyes.
The causes of cleft are very complicated, but genes are often part of the cause.
‘Genetics’ is the study of genes and how they’re passed on, and a ‘Clinical Geneticist’ is a kind of doctor who specialises in this area.
As part of the Cleft Team, a Clinical Geneticist can work with families to help them understand more about what caused their child’s cleft and the chances of it happening again in the future.
Radiologist (ray-dee-oll-owe-jist)
A radiologist is a doctor trained to give people x-rays. These use a special machine which can see through you and take pictures of the inside of your body.
You might have x-rays as part of visits to the dentist, including the special dentist in your Cleft Team. For these, you might be given little plastic discs to put inside your cheeks; these make sure your mouth stays very still during the x-ray.
Medical photography is a way of taking photos which will be useful to your doctors.
If you’re born with a cleft, your Cleft Team will take pictures before and after operations, and also when you’re 5, 10, 15, and 20 years old. They may also need to take pictures at other times during your treatment.
A Clinical Psychologist helps people talk through their worries and uses their training to help them feel better. They might do this in many different ways, depending on what someone needs.
A Clinical Psychologist can help you talk through your worries, feelings, and questions and help you to make decisions. They also work with families and new parents to help them adjust to having a new baby with a cleft, including helping them cope with worries about operations their baby might need.
Moving to adult cleft services
As you get older, you will start to become more involved in decisions around your cleft care and treatment.
When you are between 16-18 years old, your Cleft Team will talk to you about either discharging you from the cleft service, or about moving you to adult cleft services.
You will be discharged if you don’t have any more treatment planned. This means the Cleft Team will no longer invite you in appointments, including check-ups. You can still go back to them for treatment at any time as an adult, but you will usually need to ask your GP or dentist to make a referral.
If you stay with the Cleft Team to have further treatment, you will usually be moved to adult cleft services. This might mean your treatment or appointments will happen at another hospital, and your parents or carers won’t be involved unless you want them to be.
