Background: The highest incidences of cleft lip and cleft palate are in the Northeast.

Objective: To study the trend and to compare the number of patients with cleft lip and cleft palate receiving treatment at Tawanchai Center, Srinagarind Hospital.  

Materials & Methods: It was a descriptive study from the medical records of the patients admitted to Tawanchai Center between the ages of 4 – 7 years from 2009-2011. The research instrument was a questionnaire on general information and hometown. Percentage was employed for data analysis.  

Results: It was found that there were 125 patients with cleft lip and cleft palate, 81 of them were males (64.8 %). According to demographic study, most of the patients or 25 of them (20%) lived in Roi Et, followed by Loei and Sakon Nakhon with 13 patients each (10.4%), and 11 patients lived in Khon Kaen (8%). Regarding hometown areas, it was found that 106 patients (84.8%) lived outside the city or Muang districts. On the contrary, 19 patients (15.2%) lived in Muang districts. With regard to Health Area, the study revealed that 60 patients (48.8%) lived in Health Area 8, followed by 51 patients (41.5%) in Health Area 7.

Conclusion: According to the study of the treatment of 125 patients with cleft lip and cleft palate between the ages of 4 – 7 years, the number of the patients tended to decline but likely increase in hometown areas, especially outside of Muang districts. In addition, the number of patients living outside Health Area 7 was likely to increase. Therefore, providing information on the rights of treatment to the patients, families, and general people, will allow more patients to access specialized care centers.