The 17th International Cleft Congress

The 17th International Cleft Congress was held in Mahabalipuram, Chennai from February 8th to 11th, 2017 and was inaugurated by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Around 1200 surgeons from across 75 countries participated in the event. The conference highlighted on the various advanced surgical treatments for the management of a cleft lip and palate patients.

A video of Anterior Maxillary Distraction (AMD), an advanced surgical technique for treating upper jaw (maxilla) deficiency for cleft patients was designed and presented by Dr.Gunaseelan Rajan, Medical Director, Rajan Dental Hospital, Mylapore, Chennai. Dr. Alvaro A. Figueroa from the United States released the video and Dr. Michael Krimmel from Germany received it.

Generally, cleft lip and palate patients have a deficient upper jaw. The AMD procedure for such patients done by Dr.Gunaseelan Rajan, proved to be less extensive and more successful when compared to other highly extensive surgical methods for cleft patients. A detailed description of this procedure has been published in the American Journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery in the year 2007.

In addition to providing a confined way of surgical approach, this procedure is also cost effective. Therefore, it has been adopted and practiced by many leading surgeons across the globe.