LCPC was founded in 1938 by local orthodontist Dr. Herbert K. Cooper and was the first independent clinic in the world dedicated exclusively to the treatment of cleft lip and palate.
ABOUT US
CLEFT CARE
Craniofacial Treatment Services
While each patient’s cleft and treatment are unique, the common thread is the care and attention received by the LCPC providers.
PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY
For Children
From tooth cleaning to annual dental care, our team takes care of your child’s healthy smile.
INFANT FEEDING ASSISTANCE
Looking to a Bright Future
85 Years Has Been a Brilliant Beginning
At Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic, potential is seen in the changing faces of our patients. Opportunities are imagined in the child whose newly enhanced smile is shared with one of our nurses. Possibilities are evidenced in the framed photos, side-by-side on a home’s mantle, showing a baby with a craniofacial abnormality grown into a confident teen. Opportunities are heard when a teen in speech therapy produces a consonant he’d never been able to form before.
Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic is proud to be a part of watching families capitalize on the potential they already see in their child. In our eighty five-year history, we have established an entirely new method of team care: the model that is now embraced world-wide as the standard for cleft care.
Eighty five years has been a great beginning, but craniofacial needs are America’s most common birth defect. We build educated care plans using outcome studies that weigh immediate and long-term results, allowing our patients to transform into the best versions of themselves. We help bring out the potential that mom and dad knew was there all along.
Our History
85 Years Has Been a Great Beginning
Your face is your window to the world. It’s the first thing we see when we meet each other. Founded by H. K. Cooper, Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic has always embraced the groundbreaking philosophy of bringing all the necessary specialists together as a single team.
Our FUTURE
The Americleft Project
Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic has been a leader in the field for over 85 years, and we still have our gaze set firmly on the future. We continue to make important contributions to this field of knowledge.
Our History
Currently, under the direction of Dr. Cooper’s grandson, Dr. Ross Long, Jr., LCPC has returned to its roots as the only free-standing cleft/craniofacial clinic in the world.
LCPC developed the team treatment concept as the most effective way to treat patients with cleft lip and palate and craniofacial anomalies.
According to the CDC, cleft lip and palate is one of the most common birth defect in the United States, occurring on average to one child in every 700 live births.
The average cost of treatment for a person with a cleft lip and palate from birth through age 18 is $400,000. Insurance reimbursement covers approximately 50% of those costs.
The Clinic has over 5,000 registered patients, treating approximately 2,500 patients and performing approximately 18,000 services per year.
We are one of three major cleft treatment centers in PA. Our patients come from over 36 counties in PA, with 30% right here in Lancaster County.
Part of the mission of LCPC is to conduct research into the causes and treatment outcomes of cleft lip and palate. We have been the recipients of five major grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since our inception.
Currently, we are the coordinating center for the Americleft Project, the only North American study comparing treatment outcomes in order to identify best practices.