Scripps Plastic Surgeon Fixes Cleft Palates in Mexico, Changes Lives
Scripps physician is member of Mercy Outreach Surgical Team
![Dr. Denis Bucko works with the Mercy Medical Outreach Surgical Team (M.O.S.T.) providing free surgery to children in Mexico with cleft palates and lips.](http://www.scripps.org/sparkle-assets/images/dr._c._dennis_bucko_most.jpg)
When it comes to fixing cleft palates and other common birth defects, Dennis Bucko, MD, a plastic surgeon affiliated with Scripps, can speak with a great deal of authority.
Dr. Bucko is a longtime member of the all-volunteer Mercy Outreach Surgical Team (M.O.S.T.), which travels to Mexico every year to provide free surgeries to children who are born with common birth defects such as cleft palates.
In a recent article in the UT San Diego, Dr. Bucko explains what cleft palates are, why they occur and how they are repaired.
While the problem is normally treated at a young age in the United States, that is not often the case in less-developed countries where access to medical care is far more limited.
Dr. Bucko said he once repaired the cleft lip of an 80-year-old woman who said she was going to die soon and wanted to look good when she got to heaven.
Read the full story in the UT San Diego: Cleft palate requires surgeries but treatment can be successful.
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