Advancing Cleft Care Protocols with Digital Technologies

Smile Train, FDI and Dentsply Sirona first came together in 2022 to improve the quality of and access to cleft care globally. The partners have made it one of their priorities to create global standard treatment protocols and make them available to dental professionals providing care to people born with clefts in underserved communities around the globe. For Dentsply Sirona, this engagement is part of the company's sustainability strategy "BEYOND: Taking action for a brighter world".

Charlotte, NC., July, 2024. Dentsply Sirona, the world's largest manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies, the FDI World Dental Federation (FDI), the global voice of the dental profession, and Smile Train, the world's largest cleft-focused organization, have signed a new trilateral agreement to continue their partnership with the aim of further advancing cleft care treatment globally through digitalization. Together, the three organizations will work to expand and increase access to digital cleft treatment education to support understanding and adoption of the new digital cleft treatment standards. Their efforts will complement the Open Online Course they created in 2023 on the topic of 'Digital Dentistry in Cleft Care'.

Enabling standard protocol for digitalized cleft treatment adoption through expanded and translated education

Last year, Dentsply Sirona, FDI, and Smile Train developed the first-ever global standard protocols for digitalized cleft treatment. These protocols are designed to help improve the accuracy and efficacy of the current treatments by providing dental professionals with a comprehensive digital clinical approach across all stages of care. To teach dental professionals how to utilize these protocols, the partners created a 'Digital Dentistry in Cleft Care' course that comprises presentations, quizzes, short videos and interactive discussion boards. While the course is currently available in English, the partners will add French, Spanish, and Portuguese language versions this year to increase its global reach. In addition, Dentsply Sirona, FDI and Smile Train are set to produce additional educational materials that will demonstrate selected stages of the digital cleft care workflow with real patients, focusing on aspects such as photographic recording, baby mouth scanning, treatment simulations and device 3D printing. An interactive tool is also available for those starting to use the protocols, which helps dental professionals navigate through the different stages of care and access all the related information.

Cooperation is key to progress

"Digital technologies like intraoral scanners, CAD/CAM technologies and 3D printing have been a complete game changer for cleft care," says Andrea Frohning, SVP, Chief Human Resources Officer at Dentsply Sirona. "With the global standard protocols created last year, Dentsply Sirona and our partners were able to offer dental professionals a detailed blueprint for integrating the latest digital technologies into their cleft treatment. Now, we are coming together once more, this time to increase understanding and access to educational materials with the desire to accompany cleft professionals around the world through their learning curve, make protocol adoption even easier and help more children around the world achieve happy, healthy smiles."

"The ground-breaking work we have seen over the past few years to advance digital cleft care is a fantastic example of what we can achieve by working together," says Dr. Greg Chadwick, President of the FDI World Dental Federation. "I am pleased to be able to continue our partnership and raise the bar even further as we empower more cleft professionals to deliver cutting-edge cleft care to children in their community."

"Since our founding 25 years ago, we have been committed to delivering life-changing cleft care to children around the world," says Susannah Schaefer, President and CEO of Smile Train. "One important aspect of this is to introduce the latest dental technologies along the complete patient care continuum - and we have been successful doing this with the help of our partners who share our ambition and hopes. Thank you to Dentsply Sirona and the FDI World Dental Federation for their ongoing support and partnership."