title: Management of the alveolar cleft.
abstract: Orthopedic and orthodontic management of patients born with clefts of the lip, alveolus and palate is based on the application of basic biomechanical principles adapted to the individualized cleft anatomy. This article focuses on orthopedic and orthodontic preparation for 2 stages of interdisciplinary orthodontic/surgical cleft care: presurgical infant orthopedics (nasoalveolar molding) for lip/alveolus/nasal surgical repair and maxillary arch preparation for secondary alveolar bone grafting. These preparatory stages of orthopedic/orthodontic therapy are undertaken with the goal of restoring normal anatomic relationships to assist the surgeon in providing the best possible surgical care.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: pedro.santiago@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Pedro E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Santiago
authors.affiliation: Cleft-Craniofacial Orthodontics, University of Pittsburgh, 4401 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Faculty Pavillion, 7th Floor, Suite 7108, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.affiliation: Craniofacial Orthodontics, Department of Orthodontics, Georgia Regents University, 1120 15th Street, Augusta, GA 30912, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levy-Bercowski
mesh_terms: D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000601:surgery; D000540:Alveolar Ridge Augmentation / Q000379:methods; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000601:surgery*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D009666:Nose / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000601:surgery; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000379:methods*; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D011300:Preoperative Care; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Alveolar bone grafting; Alveolar cleft; Nasoalveolar molding; Presurgical infant orthopedics