DeMuth now makes approximately four volunteer trips a year, ranging in length from a week to a month. To date, he's made 29 trips to 13 countries, performing thousands of surgeries at no cost to the patient. These are not necessarily third-world countries, but they don't take care of their poor. There aren't as many plastic surgeons as there are in the United States and the doctors only want to care for their private patients. As a result, surgeries considered routine in the United States simply aren't performed on poor children, resulting in life-long deformity.
Parents often hide their children out of embarrassment.
People who suffer from cleft lip and palate are also at great risk for respiratory infections and disease, and the conditions cause speech impediments. That's why DeMuth prefers to take a team approach to providing care. You can't just sew up their lip and palate and be done with it. Usually their teeth are crooked and their speech is messed up. It takes a team of specialists.