Our rehabilitation department has been carrying out speech therapy for more than two years, and through cooperation with dentistry and pediatric surgery, we have guided and treated many patients with good results after cleft lip and palate surgery. After the cleft lip and palate repair, the child’s appearance is improved and the swallowing function of the mouth is satisfactorily restored. However, as the children grow up, parents find that their children’s pronunciation is still different from other children, and some of them even lag behind in speech function compared to normal; or some of them are already adults, and the clarity of their speech affects their work and life. So, they visit the hospital again to find a solution.
The modern concept of sequential cleft lip and palate treatment is no longer just surgical repair, but forms a three-dimensional treatment model that restores normal anatomical and physiological functions, including orthopedic one surgical one orthodontic one speech. Sequential treatment is a concept based on this model in order to achieve the desired therapeutic effect. The so-called sequential treatment is to treat the corresponding morphological, physiological and psychological defects of the patient from birth to adulthood, with each stage of growth and development. It also means to use the most appropriate method to obtain the best results at the best time of treatment, forming the procedure. In short, cleft lip and palate sequential treatment is a well-established implementation system involving multidisciplinary specialists to treat patients with cleft lip and palate in a comprehensive manner at the appropriate age and according to certain procedures.