title: 20 years of cleft lip and palate missions.
abstract: Volunteer missions for cleft lip and palate (CLP) care in Indonesia (1991-1992), India (1994-2003), Bhutan (2005-2010), and Kenya (2011), took place always at the same Hospital in each country. Altogether over a thousand patients were operated using a conservative protocol: Safety first - no experiments. Five months and 5 kg were the basic rules. For the native doctors, training help for self-help was priority. In the announcements, patients with CLP were primarily addressed. Burns, contractions, tumors, and trauma-cases were the second priority. Fresh trauma was done in night shifts with the local surgeons in order not to interfere. Besides facial esthetics speech was the number one issue, following priorities fell into place. Cultural aspects played a certain role in the different countries and continents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgery, Oral Radiology and Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: J Thomas
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Lambrecht
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Plastic Surgery and Dentistry, Head and Neck Center, Klinikum Nord-Heidberg, Hamburg (D), Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kreusch
authors.affiliation: St. Louis University School of Medicine, Cleft Lip and Palate and Craniofacial Deformities Center, Mercy Children's Hospital, St. Louis MO, USA.
authors.forename: Jeff L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.affiliation: University Hospital for Cranio Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schopper
keywords: Cleft; lip and palate care; volunteer mission