Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development

Among the various congenital craniofacial defects, one of the most common congenital craniofacial defect is cleft lip and palate. Its treatment requires a group of doctors whose primary motto is to restore the normal form and function of the patient by reconstructing the nasoalveolar segments. Before the reconstruction, the impaired tissues should be stretched and the ill positioned structures should be positioned in their actual place before surgical treatment. In patients with cleft lip and palate, nasoalveolar molding helps to develop the nasal deformity with a stent or prosthesis and this has to modified because of the continuous growth of the individual leading to change in size of the dentoalveolar region or there might be some improvement in the cleft. During the modification the stent has to be placed on a new plate. This requires long patient appointments or multiple appointments. To minimize the long and multiple appointments, few studies have been done and a quick chair side procedure for the nasal stent exchange has been introduced, which is referred to as Rapid NAM. The CAD/CAM NAM and its advanced version Rapid NAM drastically improved the height of the cleft-nasal side and a considerable symmetry of the nose was achieved. The quick lock technique reduces the wire adaptations as the previously used prosthesis or stent can be made to use again. This advanced technique is a combination of the CAD/CAM technology and the conventional components of NAM.