"For cleft lip and palate patients their follow up treatment is a crucial subject in their lives. The reconstruction of the lip and palate can be done well, but without follow up the patient can still remain partially deformed due to the changes that occur as the patient matures. Bone grafting, orthodontia, speech therapy and other medical procedure must be done to complete their treatment. The funds needed for this type of care is not readily available, especially in South America where Operation Tooth Fairy Foundation works.
Please donate to this cause. You will be contributing to the future of many teenagers who are suffering from discrimination, unemployment, psychological and social problems."
Gratefully yours,
Pablo Castro,
Founder & Chairman of the Board of Directors
501-(C) (3) non-profit organization
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2009
Dear Operation Tooth Fairy Foundation Supporters and friends,
I hope this finds you and your family well, and ready for a holiday of sharing from the heart.
I would like to give you a report on what I have been doing and what was done in Bolivia and some thoughts regarding our organization.
The last mission to Sucre Bolivia was an experience that left me with the feeling that we are really making a difference for our kids and they are “looking good”. They have suffered for such a long time with their deformities that it is magical to be able to help them and their families. This last mission was the first time that we operate in so many patients and with surgeries that were difficult, significant and without complications. It was also the first time that we have a team of professionals working together to help their own kids. We did not take any medical people from the USA, which makes it unique, since the cost of taking professionals from the US is really high. Rotaplast and Smiles are now running missions that are close to $100,000 per mission. We did 25 procedures and we only spent about $7,000,
In Sucre, we have done surgeries like bone grafting, rynoplasties, scar revisions between the lip and the nose and corrections of prior surgeries. In Chile we have not done that: however next year, the Chileans, impressed with what was done in Bolivia, they are planning surgeries too, so expect more success.
I also wanted to inform you that last month I attended, on a very fast trip, a wonderful Cleft Lip and Palate seminar in North Carolina, where I was able to learn more about our work from professionals, meet terrific surgeons that have worked on cleft patients for years and met with the people who run the organization with approximately 2500 members, which is the ACPA, the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association, based on Chapel Hill. They also presented an 18 year old American patient who has been under treatment for …18 years; she is looking very good. I also had informative talks with the directors of ACPA and they invited Operation Tooth Fairy Foundation members to attend the ACPA annual Conference in Dallas, Forth Worth. That event is well attended by people from all over the world who work on cleft children and they present their techniques and concerns. I was also invited to make a presentation regarding my experiences, which was a surprise and an honor.
On a different subject, we are working on shipping a Panoramic X Ray machine secured as a donation by Alan Poole to Bolivia. Our hope is to raise funds to pay for the supplies and other needs of our patients in Sucre. It is our plan to open a small X Ray lab, where the X Ray machine will be made available to the public, who will pay a moderate fee for the X Rays and the funds generated will be used to pay for Operation Tooth Fairy expenses in Sucre. The revenues will also be sufficient to pay rent and to employ a radiologist, part time. We need to raise $5,500. for shipping. Any donation is welcome and can be made at PayPal donation link on this website.
Thank you for your continued support.
Pablo Castro
Executive Director
Operation Tooth Fairy Foundation
May 2009
OTF Team members, Executive Director, Pablo Castro, Lead dentist, Dr. Preston Brown, Dr. Fernando Ulloa, MD, & Dr. Thomas Uelk, DDS, traveled to La Serena, Chile to extend further treatment to the children in the orthodontia program. Accompanying the OTF team was Dr.Maria Tolarova, University of Pacific Professor of Genetics, and Dr. Miroslav Tolar, University of Pacific Molecular Genetics Professor, to present seminars at the two OTF partner Universities, Universidad Del Mar and Universidad Pedro Valdivia, in La Serena on education, research and prevention of cleft, lip and craniofacial anomalies. Dr. Tolar lectured on stem cell research.
Mayor Raul Saldivar Auger of the City of La Serena dedicated an acre of land for the OTF partners to construct a Operation Tooth Fairy Rehabilitation Clinic to provide a permanent center for the care of the patients.
July 2009
Executive Director of Operation Tooth Fairy, Pablo Castro, was accepted as a member of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association. The ACPA has a membership that spans the globe, with 2500 professionals representing the United States and 60 additional countries. The ACPA is organized to stimulate specialist and public interest in, and a more exact knowledge and improved practice of, the science and art of the rehabilitation of persons with cleft lip/palate and other craniofacial anomalies. The mission of the association is to optimize the interdisciplinary care of persons affected by cleft palate and other craniofacial anomalies.
August 2009
Malvina Ayara, President of COANIF (Patient Advocate Group) and Operation Tooth Fairy Director in LaSerena and Jesus Parra Parraguez, 2007-2008 President of the Rotary Club of La Serena, Chile and the Director of Public Works of the City of La Serena and the Director of Operation Tooth Fairy, La Serena, Chile attended the first International Conference of Operation Tooth Fairy in San Anselmo, California.
Peter and Elaine Lagarius, President and Founder of Rotaplast attended the conference. Rotaplast is the Foundation that Peter and Elaine founded to bring medical/ dental teams to perform plastic surgery on cleft lip/palate patients . Pablo Castro was with first mission of Rotaplast in La Serena, Chile in 1993. Rotaplast began as an International project for the #2 Rotary Club in San Francisco when Peter Lagarius was the President of the San Francisco Rotary Club. Peter and Elaine adopted their daughter from Chile.
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