Journal of Orthodontics, Vol. 29, No. 3, 238,
September 2002
© 2002 British Orthodontic Society
Management of Cleft Lip and Palate
A. C. H. Watson, D. A. Sell and P. Grunwell (Eds) Whurr Publishers, London 418 pp., hb £45 ISBN 1 86156 158 X
R. G. Oliver
Most of those who some consider to be the great and the good of cleft care in the UK have contributed to his extensively revised book. This is now in it’s third incarnation, the first being Muriel Morley’s seminal book on cleft palate speech, the second was Watson and Edwards’ book that included wider issues in the management of cleft lip and palate. This edition is much revised and extended, with some 23 contributing authors from all the recognised areas of cleft care, flawed perhaps by the fact that there are four plastic surgeons and only one oral and maxillo-facial surgeon on the author list.
The 25 chapters are divided into three sections. The first is The Nature of Cleft Lip and Palate, which covers aetiology, classification, facial growth, speech disorders, and genetics. The second section covers the early management of the child and the third section deals with the later management of the child, including alveolar bone grafting. Within this final section is a chapter from Gareth Davies, who is the chief executive of Cleft Lip and Palate Association (CLAPA), on the role of parent support groups. The editors are to be congratulated on this as organisations such as CLAPA have an equally important role to play in the care and support of patients and parents.
The information within the book is up-to-date, although the genetics chapter will probably age faster than the rest. It is a very readable book, and provides a good half-way bridge between the large textbooks on cleft management that are written for specialists and the chapters in textbooks (e.g. orthodontic books) that cannot provide anything other than a superficial level of detail. Who, then, is this book written for? It is too detailed to be an undergraduate text and too superficial for established members of a cleft team. Orthodontic postgraduate students will find most of what they need in this book. One must also wonder if there will be many overseas sales of this book, given the poor reputation for the outcomes of cleft care in the UK revealed in the CSAG report of 1998.
The high quality of the writing is spoiled by the poor quality of the illustrations that are all black and white, mainly line drawings, and one that looks like it had been faxed to the publishers on an inferior machine. In spite of these shortcomings would I recommend this book? Yes I would, I think that it is a big improvement on the earlier version and fills a gap in the market.
