“A Happy Mouth is a Happy Mind”: Why Oral Health is Essential to Cleft Care

A thousand thoughts raced through Kafilat’s mind as she held her new baby, Testimony, for the first time. Each was more terrifying than the last. She had no idea how to care for a child with a cleft and knew she could never afford the surgery he needed. Her attempts to feed him ended in heartbreak as he choked on her milk. How could he survive if he couldn’t eat? And even if he did survive, what if he got harassed at school? How would he ever get married, find a job? 

Yet, through all her doubts, she never lost hope that better days were ahead. If only she kept searching, she knew she would find an answer.

Her determination led her to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), her local Smile Train partner. Learning Testimony would receive all the cleft care he ever needed for free thanks to the kindness of strangers left Kafilat speechless but for her whispered prayers of gratitude for the miracle that saved her son. 

Testimony had his first cleft surgery when he was 21 months old. The family was thrilled with the result, but Kafilat was surprised to see how many of his oral health problems persisted even after it. His teeth were coming in crooked and already showing signs of decay; he even developed tiny legions in his mouth. 

In other words, he still struggled to smile.

Thankfully, the family never needed to worry because Prof. Omolola Orenuga, the pediatric dentistry team lead at LUTH, was always there by their side.

Prof. Orenuga regularly, diligently, scraped every little crevice of Testimony’s mouth, from his teeth to his gums to his palate, to remove every minuscule particle that might cause decay or infection. More importantly, she taught Kafilat how to do thorough cleanings at home twice each day and how to know when he needed to come back to the clinic for immediate attention.

A one-off surgery cannot heal a cleft. It requires a journey over many years and many, many individual treatments and acts of care. That’s why, rather than sending outside doctors on short-term missions into then out of places of need, Smile Train trains and equips local experts like Prof. Orenuga and the rest of the team at LUTH to provide the exact care children need at the exact time they need it — and empower their parents to provide it as well.

The difference is that between a childhood of sickness and isolation and one of health and confidence. Testimony recently had his second free Smile Train surgery. It was more successful because his teeth were in good shape before he went under the knife, and now he’s set up for a lifetime of healthy oral health habits and confident smiles.

“I appreciate [Smile Train’s donors]. God will bless them, God will guide them,” Kafilat said.

“A happy mouth is a happy mind,” Prof. Orenuga preaches, “and everybody has a role to play in ensuring good oral health for people with clefts.”