One in 700 babies is born with a cleft lip and or palate each year in Central Texas. This congenital disability prevents persons from eating, breathing and speaking correctly. Neither race nor ethnicity plays a significant role in who is born with this deformity.
Sometimes children do not receive the required medical attention to have this disability corrected and grow up with this disfiguration and chronic condition for life. These individuals are ostracized from all parts of society; including school, work, social environments and sometimes even their families. They are shunned by all for a lifetime.
Children who lived in Austin and were born with a cleft lip palate and who did not have any funding or only partial funding were forced to travel either to Dallas, Houston or San Antonio to receive the proper medical attention administered by a Cleft Team. A Cleft Team is a multi-disciplinary team consisting of plastic surgeons, ear nose and throat physicians, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, speech therapists and audiologists.
Recognizing the need for a Cleft Team in Central Texas, The Austin Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons founded the Central Texas Cleft Lip and Palate Team in 1977. Because these cleft children have many compound problems associated with this congenital defect, they almost always require more than one surgery and will need much follow-up and treatment in the years to come. The Cleft Palate Team provides the necessary evaluations and full service medical treatment to these children from start to finish.
The plastic surgeons on the Cleft Team found that there was an even higher incidence of cleft lip/palate births in Mexico and Latin America (one in 300). So in 1987 the Austin Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons officially formed the non-profit Austin Smiles, the Austin Plastic Surgery Foundation. By pooling all the physicians' "on call" money received from Brackenridge Hospital for two full years, they were able to generate enough seed money to buy the portable medical equipment for medical missions and to hire a part time associate to coordinate all the patients and ensure the children were receiving the best care.
To date the medical professionals of Austin Smiles have completed over 1000 reconstructive surgeries in Austin and the Central Texas region and over 3500 internationally.
The Austin Society of Plastic Surgeons Founding Members of Austin Smiles, 1987
- Patrick H. Beckham, MD
- Robert L. Clement, MD
- James R. Cullington, MD
- William M. Davis, MD
- Robert A. Ersek, MD
- James W. Fox, MD
- Umesh G. Gadaria, MD
- William H. Gorman, MD
- Victor J. Li-Pelaez, MD
- N.D. Moscoe, MD
- E. Richard Parker, MD
- David M. Turner, MD
- Alfred C. Wilder, MD
- David S. Wishnew, MD
Current members of the Austin Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons are:
- Patrick H. Beckham, M.D.
- Robert Caridi, M.D.
- Robert L. Clement, M.D.
- Lauren Crawford, M.D.
- James R. Cullington, M.D.
- William M. Davis, M.D.
- Robert A. Ersek, M.D.
- Umeshchandra G. Gadaria, M.D.
- Ashley Gordon, M.D.
- William H. Gorman, M.D.
- Nabil Habash, M.D.
- Jeffrey W. Hall, M.D.
- Raymond J. Harshbarger, M.D.
- Scott Haydon, M.D.
- Stephen L. Henry, M.D.
- Steven Holzman, M.D.
- Patrick Kelley, M.D.
- Victor J.Li-Pelaez, M.D.
- Sergio Maggi, M.D.
- Timothy M. McGee, M.D.
- Karin E. Montero, M.D.
- N.D.Moscoe, III, M.D.
- David M. Mosier, M.D.
- E. Richard Parker, M.D.
- Rocco Piazza, M.D.
- Dustin Reid, M.D.
- Deidre M. Rhoad, M.D.
- James T. Robison IV, M.D.
- Sanjay K. Sharma, M.D.
- Ned Snyder, IV, M.D.
- Craig Staebel, M.D.
- Troy Thompson, M.D.
- Kelly E. Tjelmeland, M.D.
- David M. Turner, M.D.
- Adam Bryce Weinfeld, M.D.
- Alfred C. Wilder, M.D.
- David S. Wishnew, M.D.
