Our Approach
Smile Train partners with local healthcare workers to provide cleft treatments 365 days a year on five continents.
![A surgeon in Bangladesh holds a child with cleft](/https/www.smiletrain.org/sites/default/files/styles/3_2__720x480/public/2021-01/smile-train-our-approach-to-cleft.jpg?itok=2U4V2zwI)
Sustainable Model
Our unique "teach a man to fish" model focuses on training local professionals to provide world-class cleft care in their own communities. Those professionals then go on to train others, creating a sustainable system for long-term care.
Links to Our Approach
Our Model
Smile Train is the world’s largest cleft-focused organization, with a sustainable and local model of supporting surgery and other forms of essential care.
Services
Children with clefts need more than just surgery. They may also need nutritional support, dental care, orthodontic treatment, speech therapy, and more.
Where We Work
We support our partners to provide 100%-free cleft treatment to children around the world.
Our Impact at a Glance
20,000+
empowered medical professionals
2M+
Smile Train-supported cleft surgeries since 1999
1,000+
partner hospitals
100,000+
Smile Train-supported cleft training opportunities
95+
countries where Smile Train has helped children
![A child with cleft from Laos](/https/www.smiletrain.org/sites/default/files/styles/5_4__720x576/public/2021-01/why-smile-train-works-with-clefts.jpg?itok=cHHFHMIk)