Functional results with the team care of cleft lip and palate patients in Bergen, Norway. The Bergen Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Team, Norway.

There is international consensus about some fundamental elements concerning treatment of cleft lip and palate (CLP): (1) multidisciplinary teamwork, (2) centralization, (3) team continuity, (4) long-term treatment planning (from birth to adulthood), (5) documentation, (6) evaluation, (7) follow-up studies, (8) research and (9) quality assurance. Every year 120-140 children are born with CLP in Norway (2 per 1,000 live births). For more than four decades the treatment of CLP has been centralized to the University Clinics in Oslo and Bergen. The cost of treatment as well as the travel expenditures for patients born with facial clefts are paid by the Norwegian government (social security). In a speech study of 180 6-year-old children with CLP/CP first operated in Bergen during 1973-1981, normal resonance was found in 76.7% of the children, moderate hypernasality in 11.7%, while 11.6% had marked hypernasality.