Nasoalveolar Molding Device (NAM)

Here are a couple of pictures of the NAM. These are from late August,so keep in mind the NAM has changed a lot since it was originally put in Emily's mouth. Originally the NAM did not have the nasal stents. Also,the stents were much smaller. I wish now that I'd taken pictures of the NAM after each adjustment so that I could see the progression from when she first got it in on 4/21 to the present. I'm putting this post back in with the April posts but will link to it throughout the blog.


Top view of the NAM. This is the shape of the cleft in Emily's palate.


Side view of the NAM. Look at those honking stents! They look like jelly beans now.

The hole in the center of the NAM is for airflow in case her nasal passages become obstructed, but the nasal stents actually help to open up her airway (another bonus of the NAM). The indentation down the center of the NAM fits over her nasal septum which runs down the center of her mouth. I'd originally thought her nasal septum was a piece of palate, but Dr. Grayson set me right on that. Emily has no palate tissue at all and so the nasal septum is exposed. There was a huge sore on her nasal septum when we first brought Emily into NYU when she was six days old. This was from her tongue rubbing up against the septum which is normally protected by the bony palate. The NAM protects her septum (yet ANOTHER bonus) and we haven't seen any sores in her mouth really since the first couple of weeks she had the NAM.