Multidisciplinary Presurgical Education: Clinical Impact on Children With Orofacial Clefts Undergoing Maxillary Distraction via Rigid External Distraction.

Objective: Treatment of severe maxillary hypoplasia is commonly addressed via distraction osteogenesis with a rigid external device (RED). While effective, this method can be socially stigmatizing in an already vulnerable patient population. To prepare children and their caregivers for life with a RED and decrease peri-operative anxiety, we instituted a multidisciplinary pre-surgical education session (MPES).