Report from CaboSmiles Mission to Mexico August 2025
Partnership Projects of Children’s Lifeline™ & Smiles International
- Total Patient Selection Pool to date: 370
- (several new patients arrived for entrance to
- program)
- Number of patients screened and treated with SLP, Tx Plan, and Therapy review: 60
- Number of cases selected for reconstruction during 4.5 days: 17
- Surgical reconstructive procedures performed: 76
- (reason for multiple procedures performed under the same pediatric anesthesia; it was performed this way to make best use of the opportunity for child’s overall safety with less exposures to anesthesia throughout care.)
- Relative value of cases if performed in the USA at hospital setting with specialist anesthesia , surgeons, and nursing facility charges: $454,500.00 USD
The Team
Team members working at the August 2025 CaboSmiles clinic:
It went well, providing many children primary as well with ongoing surgical stages. Again, the SLP team was able to actively use the Rotary Granted Nasopharyngoscopy unit to interface with the Cranio-Maxillofacial surgeons to pre-plan the best methods for them to structure the pharyngeal/palatal surgery reconstructions to produce the best speech patterns following the child’s healing.
Local surgeons participated and gained valuable skills as well as practiced their techniques together with the professional educators and experts of our team. Hopefully, this will go a long way to provide future longitudinal care throughout the year between our focus mission clinics.
Once again, we were able to see new children with primary cleft lips and palates in addition to having the pleasure of following up with our other children needing their secondary stages. By including Dra. Macrina Bustos and Dr. Carlos Caballeros in the actual management and treatments of the local children, we feel that they have gained valuable experience and skills that will help them to provide service for the disadvantaged children with families desperate for care throughout the year between our mission focus clinics.
Busy Patient Screening Area
There were several new births with primary lips and palates as well as some that were so young that we initiated primary early care to prepare them for the next February 2026 clinic. Many children were able to continue their staged surgical plans, returning for care with their lip/nose.
Beyond Surgery
Our Board-Certified Speech and Language Pathologists Evaluations on follow-up children gaining confidence with their speech.
These children also receive hand-sewed clothing from the grandmother sewing group supporting these clinics all the way from Minnesota.
Child takes a good look at his surgeon, wonder what he is seeing?
On to the Operating Room
Several children were able to have refinements of their lip and nose with secondary procedures.
SLP Work
There was a SLP “Graduate” which was very exciting to the team. She is now speaking with little, if any, side effects from having the severe cleft problems due to the successful use of the scope, surgery and active speech therapy which has been taught to local clinicians to continue between our clinics. She will now be able to enter her workforce in the community and speak with confidence that her messages will be understood and this represents tremendous achievement for the patient and team alike, akin to the ability to facial be seen without judgments or scorn.
CLI’s Ongoing Support
The joint efforts through Rotary International, Children’s Lifeline International and the Smiles International Foundations have given a tremendous number of children afflicted with facial cleft differences and deformities hope for a more normalized future allowing them to grow and flourish in their communities. Abilities to eat, speak, breathe, hear and SMILE cannot be underestimated in their value to allow integration to their communities for functioning young adult members of their work force. Additionally, at least one child reached her “Speech Graduation Goals” and successfully joined with the many who now can speak with and absence of the stigmata of the cleft affected speech patterns so often hindering these patient’s ability to sustain public service interactions with their community workforce. This is due to the constant consistency of the SLP education and diagnostic abilities of our specialty team working with community therapists. Hoorah!
Prof. Jeffrey J. Moses DDS, FAACS
Diplomate, Amer. Board Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery President/Founder,
Smiles International Foundation
Cabo Smiles August 2025 Video
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