The History and Mission of Smile Train, a Global Cleft Charity

Volk, Angela S.; Davis, Matthew J.; Desai, Priya; Hollier, Larry H.

doi:10.1016/j.coms.2020.04.010

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Smile Train offers one example of the benefits of this system, as they claim to have trained 2100þ medical professionals, created 1100þ partner hospitals, and run 30 000þ cleft training opportunities. 32 This method is an ethical and effective step in the right direction for creating a self-sustainable environment that several organizations are beginning to utilize. 33 As of yet, however, there is no proven standard for how to reliably build a diagonal organization in a new location within LMICs.…”

Section: Global Health Education In Plastic Surgerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Plastic Surgery: A Review of the Field and a Call for Virtual Training in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Ullrich

Ramsey

2021

Plast Surg (Oakv)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Lack of surgical access severely harms countless populations in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many types of surgery could be fulfilled by the plastic surgeon, as populations in these areas often experience trauma, burns, cleft lip and palate, and other relevant medical issues. Plastic surgeons continue to contribute significant time and energy to global health, primarily by participating in short mission trips intended to provide many surgeries in a short time frame. These trips, while cost-effective for lack of long-term commitments, are not sustainable as they require high initial costs, often neglect to educate local physicians, and can interfere with regional systems. Education of local plastic surgeons is a key step toward creating sustainable plastic surgery interventions worldwide. Virtual platforms have grown popular and effective—particularly due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic—and have shown to be beneficial in the field of plastic surgery for both diagnosis and teaching. However, there remains a large potential to create more extensive and effective virtual platforms in high-income nations geared to educate plastic surgeons in LMICs to lower costs and more sustainably provide capacity to physicians in low access areas of the world.

show abstract

Section: Global Health Education In Plastic Surgerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Plastic Surgery: A Review of the Field and a Call for Virtual Training in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Ullrich

Ramsey

2021

Plast Surg (Oakv)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…With over 1100 partner hospitals and a reach in more than 90 countries, Smile Train is the largest cleft charity in the world. 1 To date, more than 1.6 million Smile Train-supported surgeries have been performed, helping reduce the burden of disease in LMICs. An economic evaluation study determined that a Smile Train-funded cleft surgery costing $250 can yield a 168-fold return on the initial investment, benefiting the patient and their community.…”

Section: Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since its founding, Smile Train has provided over 1500 training programs and more than 30,000 educational opportunities for its partners, with a significant increase in programs and opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. 1 Smile Train also works to support education and training for perioperative nurses. The Safe Nursing Care Saves Lives workshop trains nurses in recognizing and intervening in potential postoperative complications.…”

Section: Strengthening Partnershipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Partners who specialize in speech pathology, nutrition, and anesthesia also have access to the latest research, reference materials and courses, and continuing education events to provide CCC to their local communities. Since its founding, Smile Train has provided over 1500 training programs and more than 30,000 educational opportunities for its partners, with a significant increase in programs and opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic 1 …”

Section: Strengthening Partnershipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Smile Train: A Sustainable Approach to Global Cleft Care

Smerica

Hamilton

Dibbs

et al. 2021

Journal of Craniofacial Surgery

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Smile Train, the largest global cleft nonprofit organization, employs a model of establishing partnerships with treatment centers and medical professionals in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Having a presence in over 90 countries throughout its history, the organization provides support for cleft lip and palate repair as well as comprehensive cleft care (CCC) for patients with clefts. With the goal of reducing disparities in access to quality surgical, anesthesia, and medical care, Smile Train strengthens partners with training, education, equipment, and patient support grants. Furthermore, safety and quality protocols have been put in place as guidelines for each partner center, and partnerships with other nongovernmental agencies were created to increase safety in the operating rooms. The founder of Smile Train desired to apply technology wherever possible to build sustainability within the treatment centers and surgeons supporting their own community. Smile Train's model, aimed at increased sustainability, is supplemented by technological advancements to assist in the safety and quality of cleft care services provided in LMIC treatment centers. Examples include centralized online data record keeping for every patient, virtual simulations and training, and mobile applications to enhance care. Recently, Smile Train's focus is expanding CCC with nutrition, oral health, speech, and nursing care programs to improve functional and psychosocial outcomes for patients following their procedure. Despite the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Smile Train continues to provide safe, efficacious, and CCC alongside their partners in LMICs further investing tremendous efforts towards the livelihood of children with clefts globally.

show abstract

“…Since its founding in 1999, Smile Train has been developing and implementing new, innovative approaches to delivering comprehensive cleft care (CCC) with the aim of enabling every child born with a cleft to live a full, productive life (9). To date, it has operated on more than 1.8 million cleft lip and palate patients in over 100 countries across the globe (10).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Profiles of children born with Orofacial Clefts: Results from Fourteen East African Countries

Belachew

Galcha

Weldesenbet

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background More than 100,000 cleft lip and palate patients have benefited from reconstructive surgeries in Africa as a result of surgical missions by non-governmental organisations such as Smile Train. The Smile Train Express is the largest cleft-centered patient registry with over a million records of clinical records, globally. In this study, we reviewed the east African patient registry data to evaluate and understand the clinical profiles of cleft lip and palate patients operated at Smile Train partner hospitals in East Africa. Method A retrospective database review was conducted from April to June 2022 in all East African cleft lip and palate surgeries registered in the Smile Train database from November 2001 to November 2019. Results 86,683 patient records from 14 East African countries were included in this study. The mean age was 9.1 years, the mean weight was 20.2kg and 19kg for males and females, respectively, and 61.8 % of the surgeries were performed on male patients. Left cleft lip only (n=22,548, 28.4 %) and right cleft lip only (n=17862, 22.5%) were the most common types of clefts, with bilateral cleft lip only (n= 5712, 7.2%) being the least frequent. Complete right cleft lip with complete right alveolus was the most frequent cleft combination observed (n = 16,385) and Cleft lip to cleft lip and palate to cleft palate ratio (CL:CLP: CP) was 6.7:3.3:1. Unilateral primary lip-nose repairs were the most common surgeries (69%) and, alveolar bone grafts were the least common (0.8%). General anesthesia was used for 74.6 % (52847) of the procedures. Conclusion The study has highlighted the need for evidence-based collaborative initiatives to enhance cleft care in East Africa. The key areas of improvement include parental/caregiver education for early detection, and intervention, addressing gender disparities in care, early nutritional assessment and feeding counseling, undue attention to proper registration of anesthesia techniques, and inclusion of postoperative data in the Smile Train database.

show abstract

The History and Mission of Smile Train, a Global Cleft Charity

Cited by 12 publications

References 23 publications

Global Plastic Surgery: A Review of the Field and a Call for Virtual Training in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Global Plastic Surgery: A Review of the Field and a Call for Virtual Training in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Smile Train: A Sustainable Approach to Global Cleft Care

Clinical Profiles of children born with Orofacial Clefts: Results from Fourteen East African Countries

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About