title: Nasoalveolar molding: prevalence of cleft centers offering NAM and who seeks it.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nasoalveolar molding (NAM) is a treatment option available for early cleft care. Despite the growing debate about the efficacy of nasoalveolar molding, questions remain regarding its prevalence and the demographic characteristics of families undergoing this technique prior to traditional cleft surgery.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the number of teams currently offering nasoalveolar molding and to identify salient clinical and sociodemographic variables in infants and families who choose nasoalveolar molding compared with those who choose traditional cleft care across three well-established cleft centers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Via phone surveys, 89% of the U.S. cleft teams contacted revealed that nasoalveolar molding is available at 37% of these centers. Chart reviews and phone correspondence with caregivers indicate that the average distance to the cleft center was 65.5 miles and caregiver age averaged 30.9 ± 5.7 years. Of families who chose nasoalveolar molding, 85% received total or partial insurance coverage. No difference in caregiver education, income, or distance to the clinic between treatment groups was found. On average, infants receiving nasoalveolar molding and cleft surgery had larger clefts and had more clinic visits than infants receiving traditional cleft surgery. Infants who were firstborn and those who did not have other siblings were more likely to receive nasoalveolar molding than were infants who were residing with other siblings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Currently more than one-third of U.S. cleft centers offer nasoalveolar molding. Although the cleft size was larger in the nasoalveolar molding group, no treatment group differences in education, income, and distance to the clinic were found.
authors: College of Dentistry, New York University, New York, New York, USA.
authors: Lacey
authors: L
authors: Sischo
authors: Jenny W
authors: JW
authors: Chan
authors: Margot
authors: M
authors: Stein
authors: Christie
authors: C
authors: Smith
authors: John
authors: J
authors: van Aalst
authors: Hillary L
authors: HL
authors: Broder
mesh_terms: D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000601:surgery*; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000601:surgery*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009666:Nose / Q000601:surgery*; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States