PE DIAT R I C S Coordinated Care Improves Outlook for Children with Facial Deformities For children born with facial abnormalities, treatment often involves multiple surgeries and other consultations from a wide variety of medical and dental specialists, in some cases stretching from infancy to early adulthood. For these young patients and their families, the coordinated effort of a team of experts is essential for both convenience and optimal care, says Wayne Ozaki, MD, DDS, a pediatric plastic surgeon and director of UCLA Craniofacial Surgery. “Most of these patients need more than just a single operation from a plastic surgeon,” Dr. Ozaki says. “If they are going to many different specialists who aren’t working together, they’re getting disjointed care.” The UCLA Craniofacial Clinic team includes experts from more than a dozen specialties, including pediatrics, plastic surgery, oral surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, head and neck surgery, audiology, maxillofacial prosthetics, speech pathology, social work and genetics. UCLAHEALTH.ORG 1-800-UCLA-MD1 (1-800-825-2631) The team meets regularly to discuss cases, and patients and their families typically are able to have all of their consultation needs met in a single day. The clinic is one of the largest of its kind in the United States, and has pioneered new treatments to improve outcomes for the most challenging patients. Approximately 200,000 children are born each year with facial deformities. The most common is cleft lip or palate, which occurs when the baby’s lip or mouth fails to form properly during gestation. Other congenital