The John W. Keys Cleft Palate Craniofacial Clinic at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center has once again received approval from the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association. The clinic, which was established in 1959, is the only cleft palate-craniofacial program in Oklahoma continually approved by ACPA since the inception of its program.
Seven thousand children are born in the U.S. every year with a cleft lip and/or palate. Children born with cleft lip, cleft palate or craniofacial conditions may require individualized treatment from infancy into adulthood.
The John W. Keys Clinic utilizes an interdisciplinary team of professionals from OU College of Dentistry and OU College of Allied Health – where the clinic is located — to care for these children. The cleft lip and palate team has members from oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, speech pathology, audiology, pediatric dentistry, otolaryngology, genetics and social work. Shelly Geddes, M.S., CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathologist in the College of Allied Health and Kevin Smith, DDS, FACS, FACD, a clinical professor in the College of Dentistry Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, are co-leaders of the team.
“We believe, as does the ACPA, that a team approach, which combines the efforts of many specialists, is the best way to treat a child with a cleft and/craniofacial condition,” Smith explained.
“The John W. Keys Cleft Palate Craniofacial Clinic is a unique interprofessional training opportunity for OU Health Sciences Center students, providing them with the opportunity to improve health outcomes for the families they treat, now and in the future,” said Andrew John, Ph.D., director of the Keys Center at the OU College of Allied Health. “We are proud of the longstanding relationship between professionals in our college and the College of Dentistry that has built this program and kept it continuously nationally accredited for more than 60 years.”
Additional information about the John W. Keys Clinic is available on the clinic’s website, https://alliedhealth.ouhsc.edu/Keys-Clinic or by calling (405) 271-4214
