The care of the cleft palate patient

Editorial The Care of the Cleft Palate Patient E ARE publishing in this issue of the JOURNAL a number of papers dealing with the rehabilitation of the cleft palate patient. The majority of these papers were read at the meeting of the American Academy of Cleft Palate Prosthesis, held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on April 10, 1946. That the harelip and cleft palate patient presents an important public health problem has been recognized in Michigan, where all children born with such defects are cared for by the state. No doubt such an arrangement makes it possible to furnish these unfortunate patients optimum results not only because it eliminates the financial factor, which no doubt prevents many from submitting to what in most cases spells prolonged and expensive treatment, but also because such patients are then taken care of in medical centers where there are properly coordinated facilities for the highly specialized professional services, and the right nursing and general care required for such cases. Dr. Kemper, of the University Hospital of the University of Michigan, pointed out that rehabilitation of the cleft palate patient may be likened to a great drama in which there are a number of actors each playing an important role under the direction of one individual, the surgeon, who is responsible He should see the patient through the for its management and productionvarious phases of the treatment until the patient is able to take his rightful place in society and carry on in a highly competitive way of life. This may take many years and will require the cooperation of specialists in many fields : the orthodontist, the prosthodontist, the speech .correctionist, and the psychologist. All these will share in the responsibility of getting the optimum result by their combined efforts. The papers in t,his issue deal with some of these problems. K. H. T.

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