Service information

Surgery

If you or your child have experienced delays in receiving cleft surgery and have concerns or questions regarding this, please feel free to contact the team to discuss this. In the meantime, we would like to assure you that, as a team we are working closely with our colleagues across the Trust to improve surgical waiting times for all patients awaiting cleft surgery, and once we have a suitable surgical admission date for you or your child, a member of the team will be in contact to discuss this.

Cleft Clinical Nurse Specialists:

If you have any specific questions about your baby's primary (first) surgery, please do not hesitate to contact your usual Cleft Clinical Nurse Specialist or any nurse via the Cleft team reception 0117 342 1177.

Speech

If you have any specific questions about your child's speech surgery, please contact the Speech Therapy team via the Cleft team reception 0117 342 1177. Please also see the speech therapy pages for further resources.

Orthodontic/dental care

We have resumed our dental services but there may be delays to treatment appointments. If you are experiencing dental pain please contact your dentist, or if are not registered with a dentist please contact 111.

Some helpful dental advice for children's tooth brushing has been produced by the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry and can be accessed below:

0-3 years old

3-6 years old 

7+ years old

If you or your child is undergoing brace treatment it is important to keep your mouth and appliance clean. Sugary food and fizzy drinks should be avoided. This will prevent damage to the teeth including marks on the teeth that may last forever. This is very important at this time where there might be a long wait for the next appointment. If you have any problems with your braces please contact the cleft orthodontist treating you.

There is helpful advice on British Orthodontic Society website www.bos.org.uk

Wellbeing

The Cleft Psychology team has written some advice to help you manage any difficult feelings about delays to cleft treatment and surgery. Please click here for further information.

 

Page last updated June 2023