Thousand Smiles

A cross-border community-based nonprofit offering comprehensive cleft lip, palate, dental, and hearing programs in a permanent Mexico clinic. We focus on bringing the best care, training, and lifelong support to underserved children and their families.

We couldn’t have done it without you. We are unique in that at our permanent Ensenada clinic, we provide a full range of reconstructive surgeries, specialty care in hearing, speech therapy, dentistry, orthodontia, and even nutrition support. We are committed to providing the very best care for patients and their families throughout their lives at no cost to them.

We are doctors, dentists, orthodontists, speech therapists, audiologists, health educators, nurses, and regular volunteers who work to provide dental care, orthodontia, as well as surgical repair of cleft lips/cleft palates for children in Mexico who might otherwise receive no care.

We are licensed, credentialed professionals from Mexico and the U.S. We are affiliated with Loma Linda University, UCSD, and UCLA. We provide continuity of care; we see patients as infants and will continue to provide proper care as the patient grows until the defects are repaired.

“Cleft” refers to an abnormal gap between the two sides of the lip and the inner roof of the mouth.  There are small barely noticeable defects or some that are very severe and disfiguring.  There are effective surgical treatments for all of these children.

Correcting these problems requires a team of specialists, many surgeries, hearing assistance, speech therapy, and long-term dental services. At Thousand Smiles Clinic, we are prepared to provide all of these services for the lives of these children!