Assessment of preference of pedodontist by cleft lip and palate team in the multidisciplinary approach

In India prevalence of oral clefts is as common as 1in 500 several cases and several centres for rehabilitation works round the clock to correct the congenital defect to almost as flawless as a normal child. The team effort involves transition from one speciality to the other and a Pedodontist who is well versed with child’s overall knowledge and comprehensive management of child can be a major shareholder & coordinate among different cleft specialists. Aim: To assess the preference of pedodontist by cleft lip and palate team in the multidisciplinary approach in Indian cleft centres. Settings and Design: It’s a cross sectional descriptive study design. Study was conducted in cleft lip and palate centres and all the specialist involved in the rehabilitation of cleft lip and palate were given a questionnaire to fill and it was also mailed for those who could not be reached personally. Methods and Material: It was a questionnaire survey with a set of fourteen open ended and close ended questions. Questionnaires were distributed to all dental and medical professional’s who were involved in rehabilitation of cleft lip palate. The filled questionnaires were collected and was later sent for statistical analysis. Statistical analysis used: Analysis was done using SPSS vertion 16.0 for windows. Results: Results of our study showed that among the complete oral rehabilitation procedures cleft lip and palate team preferred a Pedodontist for the following like behaviour management, parent counselling, restorations, pulp therapies, space management, and interceptive orthodontic procedures. Conclusions: In our study Cleft lip and palate team preferred Pedodontist for the overall oral rehabilitation of deciduous dentition. Hence there is need for change in the existing trends which calls for an active training and participation of pedodontist in the comprehensive management of cleft lip and palate, this study highlights the fact, but in the present scenario there is lack of adequate participation of pedodontists in the management of cleft lip and palate which may be attributed to lack of training as well as motivation on the same.