Rotaplast strives to ensure every child who needs cleft lip and/or palate surgery receives it. Sometimes, though, due to a patients blood count or medical history, they may not be an immediate candidate for surgery. In 1 & 1/2 year old Mabsota’s case, she is simply too small and underweight to have surgery at this time – yet her care will continue. Majka Tolarova, Ph.D. MD and Mohammed Alassuty, DDS, both of Univeristy of Pacific Dental School in San Francisco, California have teamed up with pediatricians and surgeons to provide interim treatment. First, Mabsota’s mother receives nutritional information to provide her little girl with the right foods to nourish her body. Next, Dr. Alassuty creates a premaxillary cup that will remain on Mabsota’s lip for the next several weeks. It resembles a small pacifier and fits onto her top center portion of her lip and place tension on the premaxillary area, strecthing it so that it will help pull some of the tissue closer together, provide support and prevent tissue from her upper lip from shifting left to right.
Within the next few months, the Plastic Surgeons at the Sohag Faculty of Medicine will be able to surgically treat Mabsota’s cleft lip and palate.
Mabsota, whose name means “happy girl” in Arabic, loves the camera and is sporting a grin.