EARLY MAXILLARY ORTHOPEDICS IN A CHILD WITH AN OBLIQUE FACIAL CLEFT

Objective: Oblique facial clefts are extremely rare, In view of their variabilty, surgical treatment cannot be standardized. To date, early maxillary orthopedics in the treatment of oblique facial clefts have n ot been reported,The case described here presents a newborn child with a Tessier 3 cleft, Because of the enormous width of the alveolar clef t, a narrowing of the segments was regarded as prerequisite for defini tive lip closure. To bring the segments together, an actively working plate with a forward pull was designed. Conclusion: After a period of 4 weeks, proper alignment and proximity of the segments were achieved, so that definitive lip closure and plastic reconstruction of the rema ining soft tissue defect could be easier performed.