Operation Smile Comes to UCF

Throughout the day, the mouth is used more times than its not.

Whether it is for eating, talking, making faces, kissing or smiling for the camera, the mouth is a body part that never sits idle. Unfortunately though, about 200,000 people are born with a cleft lip or palate annually which leads them with the inability to experience any of these sensations.

Luckily though, surgery is plausible and usually very successful in fixing this deforminity; however, it requires the care of many doctors and an exorbitant amount of money. Operation Smile, a national cleft lip and palate awareness organization specialize in trying to “reach the unreachable” and globally fix this physical disability.

Sophomore Michelle Ferrer and junior, Joe Kamel, hold this problem close to their hearts and are starting an Operation Smile chapter at UCF coming Spring semester to educate and raise money.

Originally, we reported 500,000 people are born with a cleft lip or palate annually. However, the real statistic is 200,000.