The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles craniofacial orthodontic fellowship has become the second program in the United States to be awarded full accreditation from the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association.
“Most postgraduate orthodontics programs in the country do not fully train orthodontic residents in the care of children with craniofacial anomalies. A fellowship in craniofacial orthodontics has been in place at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles since 2000, but we wanted to go through the peer review process for accreditation. Hopefully, this program can prepare the next generation of orthodontists who will be trained in craniofacial orthodontics and give the fellows the tools to build a craniofacial team in their own hospital," said Stephen Yen, DMD, PhD.
The team in the craniofacial program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles typically treats children with common facial birth defects, including cleft lip and palate, cleft palate, and hemifacial microsomia, which comprise about 70% of the patient load. But they also see children with some very rare craniofacial anomalies that most other providers only see in a textbook. Children come from as far away as the California’s Central Valley, Nevada, Arizona and Mexico to receive treatment. In all, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles craniofacial team follows more than 3,000 craniofacial patients, ranging in age from a few weeks after birth to 19, making it among the largest programs in the country.
The craniofacial clinical center at New York University is the only other program in the country to have received the same accreditation.
