Our Pledge To Smile Train
Join us in spreading smiles and promoting healthy oral hygiene habits
We support Smile Train through our business donations. With every purchase, we donate 1% of the product cost to Smile Train, remarkable a non-profit organization that offers life-changing corrective surgery and comprehensive care for children and adults with cleft lip and palate.
Globally, for every 1,000 live births, 1.41 babies are born with orofacial clefts and almost 195,000 babies are born with clefts each year.
Smile Train is an international non-profit organization which helps children and adults suffering from cleft lip and palate. Over the past 20 years, they have transformed the lives of more than 1.5 million children and adults, helping them breathe, eat and speak better. They provide training, funding, and resources to empower local medical professionals in 70+ countries to provide 100%-free cleft surgery and other forms of essential cleft care.
Cleft lip and palate affects individuals of all ages, Smile Train aim to ensure that people of all ages have access to the care they need.
https://www.smiletrain.org.uk/
Donations are divided equally among both organizations.
What is Cleft Lip?
The lip forms between the fourth and seventh weeks of pregnancy. As a baby develops during pregnancy, body tissue and special cells from each side of the head grow toward the center of the face and join together to make the face. This joining of tissue forms the facial features, like the lips and mouth. A cleft lip happens if the tissue that makes up the lip does not join completely before birth. This results in an opening in the upper lip. The opening in the lip can be a small slit or it can be a large opening that goes through the lip into the nose. A cleft lip can be on one or both sides of the lip or in the middle of the lip, which occurs very rarely. Children with a cleft lip can also have a cleft palate.
What is Cleft Palate?
The roof of the mouth (palate) is formed between the sixth and ninth weeks of pregnancy. A cleft palate happens if the tissue that makes up the roof of the mouth does not join together completely during pregnancy. For some babies, both the front and back parts of the palate are open. For other babies, only part of the palate is open.
Children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate face a variety of challenges, depending on the type and severity of the cleft.
- Difficulty feeding - One of the most immediate concerns after birth is feeding. This is because air leaks from the mouth through the cleft into the nose during feeding. The lack of suction makes it difficult and for some babies, impossible to breastfeed.
- Difficulty swallowing - Potential for liquids or foods to come out the nose.
- Ear infections and hearing loss. Babies with cleft palate are especially at risk of developing middle ear fluid and hearing loss.
- Dental problems - If the cleft extends through the upper gum, tooth development may be affected.
- Speech difficulties - Because the palate is used in forming sounds, the development of normal speech can be affected by a cleft palate. Speech may sound too nasal.
- Challenges of coping with a medical condition - Children with clefts may face social, emotional and behavioral problems due to differences in appearance and the stress of intensive medical care.
Management and Treatment
Surgery to repair a cleft lip usually occurs in the first few months of life and is recommended within the first 12 months of life. Surgery to repair a cleft palate is recommended within the first 18 months of life or earlier if possible. Many children will need additional surgical procedures as they get older. Surgical repair can improve the look and appearance of a child’s face and might also improve breathing, hearing, and speech and language development. Children born with orofacial clefts might need other types of treatments and services, such as special dental or orthodontic care or speech therapy. With treatment, most children with orofacial clefts do well and lead a healthy life.