Students Repair Cleft Palates/Lips Abroad

BUGSDM students Carolyn Dicus DMD 08 and Shant Baran OMFS 09 recently returned from a five-day service trip to Ibague, Colombia, to repair cleft lips and palates April 29 to May 5.

The two were the only students making up the eight person team of dentists, nurses, and a hygienist through the organization Healing the Children, which travels internationally bringing medical care to underserved children. Dicus previously accompanied the organization on a similar trip to Bucaramanga, Colombia, last year.

"What I enjoyed about this trip is that the cases were far more comprehensive than on other trips to repair cleft palates," says Dicus. "We not only saw primary cleft palate and lip cases, but also secondary surgeries that involved revisions of previous work."

The group saw a little more than 30 patients between the ages of four months and 54 years of age. In Colombia, the prevalence of cleft lips and palates is about 1 in 300 people, compared to 1 in 700 elsewhere. While researchers have not determined the cause of the increased number of cases, one possibility is that contaminated ground water is to blame.

Dicus spent much of her time discussing case management, learning how to evaluate a cleft lip or palate, placing sutures, and talking to patients about post-op instructions. This year, she will begin a residency in oral surgery at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.