Presurgical Nasoalveolar Moulding—An Adjunct to Facilitate Surgical Repair in Infants with Cleft Lip and Palate

Presurgical orthopedics forms an integral part of the treatment of patients with facial clefting. The primary aim of presurgical nasoalveolar moulding (PNAM) is reduction in the soft tissue and cartilaginous deformity to facilitate surgical soft tissue repair in optimal conditions under minimum tension to minimize scar formation. It also helps in reducing the nasal deformity with a nasal stent which brings the deformity near to the normal and forms an important part of the primary nasal repair at the time of primary lip repair. A soft acrylic relining material is added or removed to line the appliance to a thickness of approximately 1 1.5 mm in the region from where the bone is to be resorbed or apposed. This article describes the fabrication procedure of the modified nasal alveolar molding appliance in eight infants with unilateral cleft lip and palate in whom a significant reduction in cleft width and nasoalveolar deformity was achieved. The results showed that the greater segment shows more favourable changes and can be molded more positively and efficiently than the lesser segment.