The Hindu Business Line : Bringing back smiles

ONE out of every 700 babies born in India come into being with a broken (cleft) upper lip or a protruding lower jaw, or a gaping hole in the upper roof (palate) of the mouth — caused by embryonic parts failing to unite.

The result: babies, which (if they live) grow into adulthood with teeth sticking out from below the nostrils or upper and lower lips that do not meet. Speech and hearing impairment consequent upon the physical condition add to the woes of these disabled. Shunned by society, they lead miserable lives.

Is there a kind-hearted lady to kiss them back into the world of beauty? Perhaps, yes — the lady called Science.

Cleft and cranio-facial surgery corrects these congenital deformities, and although this science is not entirely new, recent advancements have made better results possible.

This is an area where dentistry, plastic surgery and paediatrics converge.

At a conference here, Dr R. Gunaseelan, Medical Director, Rajan Dental Institute, showed pictures taken before and after surgeries that clearly show the transformation.

Rajan Dental Institute has set up a `Cleft and Cranio-Facial Foundation,' which according to Dr Gunaseelan, "formalises the philanthropic work that the institute has been doing in the last 10 years."

The not-for-profit foundation will bring all facilities under one roof, marshall intellectual and financial resources and do surgeries free of cost to poor children.

"With the launch of the foundation, Chennai becomes one of the few cities in India where all specialist care to treat such deformities will be housed under a single roof," Dr Gunaseelan said.

A cleft surgery costs anywhere between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh. The Foundation, which starts with a corpus of Rs 4 lakh, will try to bring "specialised care within every man's reach."

Prof N. Samman, Director of Hong Kong Cleft Lip & Palate Unit, one of the leading centres of such a kind in the world, and President of Asian Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons, formally inaugurated the foundation. Dr Samman told newspersons that the institution he heads will also play an advisory role in the foundation.

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