Florida Cleft Teams
If you’re searching for a cleft team in Florida for your child, here is a list of hospitals, teams, surgeons and their specific techniques. This list has been compiled by other mommies, so if you don’t see your team here, we will be happy to add it for you.
Gainesville FL Cleft Teams
- Dr. Jessica Ching, MD
- NAM and/or Taping prior to lip repair
- Lip Repair done at 3 months/palate repair done at 9-12 months
- Restrictions & Requirements after repair include: No pacifiers, the use of arm restraints, and scar massage
- Speech therapy begins around 12 months
*Amazing work
Jacksonville FL Cleft Teams
- Dr. R. Dean Glassman
- Taping or No Pre-Surgical prior to lip repair
- Lip Repair done at 3 months/palate repair done at 12 months
- Restrictions & Requirements after repair include: No bottles, no pacifiers, and the use of arm restraints
- Speech therapy begins around 18 months
*I LOVE our team and especially Lida Sarnecky (the Nurse Manager.)
When our son was born, Lida drove 1.5 hours to meet us at our birth hospital and stayed until we were comfortable feeding him (used Medela Haberman on personal preference and because of the extent of my son’s palate cleft.) Four days later we drove that same distance and attended our first team clinic. We must have met with at least 10 doctors and each was informative and warm.
We chose Dr. Glassman as our son’s plastic surgeon (there are two on the team: second being Dr. Jon Obi.) He recommended no pre-surgical methods before our son’s unilateral cleft lip repair. He explained that my son has what is called a Simonart band (narrow strip of skin keeping base of nostril intact) and it would keep the cleft from getting larger. Post surgery, he uses taping whereas Dr. Obi uses a Logan’s bow. I really appreciate the amount of information Dr. Glassman offers and made the choice both for medical and personality reasons.
We have our first surgery in a week and are so glad to have this team in our corner.
Miami FL Cleft Teams
- Dr. Anthony Wolfe
- NAM prior to lip repair
- Lip Repair done at 6 months/palate repair done at 18 months
- Restrictions & Requirements after repair include: No bottles, no pacifiers, the use of arm restraints, nose stents, scar cream and scar massage
- Speech therapy begins around 6 months
*Very organized, we meet twice a year with the whole team. Which includes speech therapy, ent orthodontist, dentist, genetics, psychiatry, plastic surgeon. It’s a four hour appt but all the doctors are there so if they have to confer with one another you don’t have to wait. Your right there present listening to the conversations.
Orlando FL Cleft Teams
- Dr. Eric Steinicki
- NAM prior to lip repair
- Lip Repair done at 3 months/palate repair done at 12 months
- Restrictions & Requirements after repair include: No bottles, no pacifiers, the use of arm restraints, nose stents, scar cream and scar massage
- Speech therapy begins around 2 years
*No Parent Reviews.
- Dr. Ramon Ruiz
- NAM and or taping prior to lip repair
- Lip Repair done at 12 weeks
- Restrictions & Requirements after repair include: Nose stents, recommends scar massage, recommends scar cream
- Speech therapy: Immediate evaluation with team SLP and ongoing annual evaluations during interdisciplinary team visits with therapy as needed.
- Additional Surgeries may include: Cleft lip repair, Cleft palate repair, Bone graft reconstruction of cleft maxilla/alveolus, Orthognathic (corrective jaw) surgery. Surgery for craniosynostosis and other complex craniofacial conditions.
*No Parent Reviews.
St. Petersburg, FL Cleft Teams
- Dr. Ernesto Ruas
- Latham prior to lip repair
- Lip Repair done at 3 months/palate repair done between 9-12 months
- Restrictions & Requirements after repair include: No pacifiers, the use of arm restraints, and nose stents
- Latham molding and insertion is done at 10lbs and/or 10 weeks. If possible they will do a gumline adhesion during lip repair. Bone graft at 7 years
*We moved after our son was born so we had started with taping with our original team. Dr Ruas and his team said the taping (which was a hassle) was unnecessary as the Latham could get similar results quickly without the trouble. We showed up in St Pete when our son was 10 weeks so we had a bit of a late start but because he was chunky and healthy the team moved quickly and was able to squeeze him into the schedule and he had his repair at 3.5 months (only 2 weeks later than normal for them). The Latham is a modified version that does not require a screw turn, just rubber band adjustments every few days, it wasn’t fun but their average time with a Latham is only 2 weeks, we didn’t end up needing any adjustments and our son’s gums were touching within a week, which allowed the PS to attempt a gum line adhesion with the lip repair to hopefully prevent the need for a bone graft in a few years. Dr Ruas did an amazing job with the rep air and it looks great! He is a very confident surgeon and doesn’t beat around the bush, which is one of the things we love about him! At our first cleft meeting he sat with me for 20 minutes answering questions and showing me pictures. The lip repair ended up taking 4 hours while I believe most take only 2. I really appreciated the extra time he took to make sure the repair was awesome and it shows!
Tampa FL Cleft Teams
- Dr. Pat Ricalde, MD, DDS
- NAM , Taping or No pre-surgical prior to lip repair
- Lip Repair done at 3 months/palate repair done at 10-12 months
- Restrictions & Requirements after repair include: The use of arm restraints
- Speech therapy is based on an individual basis
*No Parent Reviews.