“Cameron was born in November 1988 with a unilateral cleft lip and a oro-nasal fistula. His lip was repaired at four months of age and the surgery went well and in following years only close inspection of the lip would see the scar..

Cameron had been seeing his Dentist and Orthodontist regularly, and the Orthodontist was ready to start work on expanding Cameron’s mouth but wanted an Oral Surgeon’s opinion first. We visited the Surgeon in September 1996, had X-rays and four weeks later Cameron was to have his surgery, a bone graft.

This surgery was to be a day surgery so we arrived at the hospital mid-morning. The nurse put the cream on his hand, explaining what it was for, the anaesthetist came and talked to Cameron and soon Cameron was on the trolley on the way to the operating theatre. Cameron was joking with the wards people and did not seem worried. We said goodbye and like all parents, waited nervously for the next couple of hours.

We saw the surgeon before we saw Cameron and he was happy with his work, having harvested bone from the chin region and implanted it in the cleft. He advised what to expect in the way of pain and swelling and some post-operative care procedures. Cameron returned to the ward and there was a small bandage over the top lip and one on his chin and he was looking just a little spaced out. Cameron required some pain relief before we could go home some four hours later.

AT home he managed some soft food and a drink before going to sleep. He woke a couple of times at night mainly due to having to change his sleeping position, having to remain propped up to reduce swelling. In the following days we used ice packs, mouth rinses and he ate soft food. There was only a little bit of swelling, hardly any bruising and he was speaking okay in a couple of days. Cameron did not require any pain relief from the time he left hospital.

Cameron returned to school after the holidays and his teachers were so helpful in letting him clean his teeth after eating and keeping an eye on him making sure he didn’t get bumped in the mouth area.

We chose to go through a private Orthodontist and Surgeon because Cameron in his lifetime has had to see a lot of other professionals like Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapists, Developmental Optometrists, Speech Therapists and we found Cameron relates better to having continual care from the same professional in whatever area.

We do not know if this procedure that the Surgeon did on Cameron is suitable for other cleft conditions but we are pleased that for our son it was not too much of an ordeal.

Kerrie and Rob Williams”  

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Last modified: August 05, 2006