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The aim of this thesis was to present the history of dental surgery and oral and maxillofacial surgery in Western Pomerania after World War II. It was shown that these related fields developed dynamically at the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin resulting in the transformation of the Chair and Department of Dental Surgery into two independent units: Chair and Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Chair and Department of Dental Surgery. Both departments provided mainstream health care for the population of Szczecin and its suburbs in the field of dental surgery and for the whole Western Pomerania in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery. By engaging in scientific, didactic, and social activities, these departments greatly contributed to the development of dental surgery and oral and maxillofacial surgery in Western Pomerania. The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is among the leading institutions in Poland offering oncologic treatment encompassing the facial part of the skull.

Within the Federal Services, a myriad of career opportunities exist for the oral and maxillofacial surgeon. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense, consisting of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, have the greatest number of positions available. Federal Services careers are also for those oral and maxillofacial surgeons with a calling to serve their country. The personal fulfillment, patient appreciation, and inter- and cross-specialty relationships are unique to this practice setting because it is free of many of the impediments, to these relationships, that exist in private practice. The highlights of a career in each of these Federal Services are described in this article.

Postresidency fellowship training is available in many subspecialty areas. This article discusses some of the rationales, advantages, and disadvantages in choosing a postresidency fellowship and/or entering a career in academic oral and maxillofacial surgery. It also discusses factors to bear in mind when evaluating fellowships.

Objective: To review the recommendations by dental faculties regarding prophylactic removal of third molars (PR-3M) and to determine if the recommendations at institutions differed and whether there have been changes since 1998/99., Method and Materials: In 1998/99 and 2004/05, a questionnaire was sent to department chairpersons of oral surgery, orthodontics, and restorative dentistry/prosthodontics of US dental schools. They were asked to characterize their department's PR-3M recommendations for adolescents (< 21 years of age), young adults (21 to 35 years), and adults (> 35 years). Third molars were categorized as fully erupted, semierupted, and unerupted. Participants also were to indicate their rationale for PR-3M. Nonparametric and independent t tests were applied to the data (P

Oral and maxillofacial surgery has been and will continue to be one of the premiere health care specialties in the United States. Incomes of oral and maxillofacial surgeons are among the highest of any profession in the country. With efficient scheduling, organized business systems, efficient fee schedules, and appropriate use of consultants, oral and maxillofacial surgery can lead to a lifestyle that is relatively stress free, allows a direct route to financial independence, and provides a great public service.

Once doctors decide to plan and form an associateship, the general process of advertising, recruiting, interviewing, and accepting an associate is important. Here we illustrate the process in three phases. We concluded that not only must the doctors be willing to devote a great deal of time and effort to building the practice but even greater time and effort into building and nurturing the associateship.

Whether you intend to attract new customers, keep existing clients, or expand into new areas, marketing will play an important role. Most small businesses have very limited time and resources for marketing, so it is crucial that the investment receives a significant return. Advertising your business via the internet is a great way to stretch marketing dollars and have the information about your doctors, practice, and services available 24 hours a day.

A resident in oral and maxillofacial surgery must prepare for the inevitable transition from residency training to practice as a private practitioner, an officer in the military, an academician, or as a fellow in a postresidency training program. Each career path offers distinct challenges and rewards. This article reviews the issues that face a chief resident embarking on a career in private practice in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

The aims of this study were to describe how the employees of OMFS clinics in Sweden perceive their health, to compare with female unpromoted general practice dentists and other human service groups and to explore the dimensionality of the health measure. Data were collected by way of a questionnaire with 67 questions, related to quality management at the clinic, working situation, questions about the content of "good work", the connection between physical environment and health, emphasis on physical environment. 22 clinics with 297 employees responded, 65% of the clinics and 86% of the employees. The results showed that employees of OMFS clinics in Sweden perceived their health as rather problematic. In comparison, the present study group placed itself between general practice dentists and other human service groups as to their health. Three factors explained more than half of the variance of symptoms. They were interpreted as (1) psychosomatic troubles, (2) somatic troubles, and (3) muscle and joint troubles. These factors were almost the same as previously reported, confirming the basic dimensionality of the question battery. This study has shown that OMFS employees are feeling unhealthy, but no worse than other high-risk-groups in human service working situation and better than female general practice dentists. The women among OMFS employees felt worse than the men. Three factors of symptoms could be established, i.e. psychosomatic troubles, somatic troubles, and muscle and joint troubles.

Aim: To identify potential problems in the quality of care when oral surgery is provided in the primary health care setting., Method: Retrospective analysis of referral patterns, waiting times, treatment with clinical and histological diagnosis, including complications of 600 patients referred to a practice-based oral surgical referral service., Results: Fifty-three patients were not treated. Seventy-nine percent of patients were treated within four weeks of referral. The most common procedure performed was surgical removal of impacted third molar teeth. The most frequently observed complications were dry socket (n = 31/703), pain and inflammation associated with resorbable sutures (n = 11/453), and post-operative infection (n = 9/547). One patient with post-operative infection required care in the acute hospital setting., Conclusion: Acknowledging the small sample, it was safe and effective to diagnose and treat a broad spectrum of patients and oral surgical problems in the primary health care setting.

Background: In the advanced countries, the awareness of Oral and maxillofacial surgery by both the public and medical specialties has led to rapid development and expansion of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery specialty with management of diverse and complex problems within a well defined anatomical region. In the developing countries like Nigeria, the trends are slow and this explains why majority of our patients present at very late stage when only palliative measures are the option., Objective: The study aims to assess the level of public and professional (GMP and GDP) knowledge and awareness of oral and Maxillofacial surgery specialty., Design: A questionnaire was devised to assess the knowledge and awareness about the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery . Ninety one members of the public who were office workers, civil servants, hospital worker in Yaba local government area of Lagos state were the public respondents. The inclusion criteria was that all respondents had attained at least secondary school educational level. They were randomly chosen and had the questionnaires applied to them. Additionally, 40 General medical practitioners and 40 General dental practitioners were picked randomly from 7 local government areas of Lagos state (Yaba, Ebutte Meta, Surulere, Lagos Island, Shomolu, Kosofe and Ikeja) and the questionnaire was applied to them., Results: Only 5.4% of the public had heard of oral and maxillofacial surgeon before. By comparison, the corresponding figures for ENT and plastic surgeons were 40.0% and 23.1% respectively. Only 4.4% of the public had a prior treatment by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon while 86.2% did not know what a maxillofacial surgeon does. The professionals (GMP and GDP) are quite aware of who a maxillofacial surgeon is, but are less knowledgeable of new areas/subspecialties of maxillofacial surgery such as cleft lip and palate surgery, cosmetic and orthognathic surgery, implantology, craniofacial surgery. Also general Medical Practitioners (60%) views of maxillofacial surgeons work are mainly dento-alveolar in horizon., Conclusion: These figures are low and it is an indication of low awareness of the specialty by the public and the professionals. While regular auditing ,publications, flow of information, leaflets about oral and maxillofacial surgery to the public, health service personnel, providers and government will improve the trends, continuous professional development Programmes (CPDP) for GDP and GMP will keep them abreast of developments in the specialty.

In 2001, the oral and maxillofacial surgical (OMFS) services for adults in Birmingham were centralised at the Selly Oak site of the University Hospital and the OMFS department was given access to the emergency operating theatre every day. We examined the effects of this on the emergency workload during the 6 months after centralisation and compared it with the emergency workload at the University Hospital during the 6 months before centralisation. The number of adult patients who attended the University Hospital as emergencies increased from 242 in the 6 months before centralisation to 545 in the subsequent 6 months (an increase of 127%). Of the latter 164 (30%) were admitted and operated on, 138 (84%) within 24h of admission. Despite the large increase in the number of patients, 102 (74%) were operated on during normal working hours. After centralisation, all operations were done on multidisciplinary emergency lists compared with only 55% before centralisation. Centralisation did not reduce the access of patients to the emergency service and conformed with the guidelines of the National Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths (NCEPOD).

Objective: To assess the level of patient satisfaction with three dental speciality services: oral surgery, periodontics, and fixed prosthodontics., Subjects and Methods: A sample of 1,242 patients, aged 16 years and over who received dental care at least twice at the main dental centre, Al-Amiri, Kuwait, were interviewed during May-August 1998 by independent researchers concerning their experience of previous visits. Patients reported their level of satisfaction on a 5-point Likert scale for the items in the questionnaire, which focused on four areas: access, dentist's communication, staff helpfulness, and structural aspects of the practice., Results: On average 49.4% (25.9-89.6%) of participating patients rated the level of care received as excellent. Areas rated poorest included waiting time for an appointment and waiting time in the clinic to access the dentist. Participants were less satisfied with doctor's explanation of illness, dental treatment and confidentiality of medical records. The areas that received excellent ratings by patients included: (a) communication (listening and understanding complaints 40.0% and courteous treatment 57.8%), and (b) structural aspects (availability of infection control and safety measures 89.6% and packed sterilized instruments 78.9%)., Conclusion: Findings indicate that the level of patient satisfaction was reasonably high. Areas identified as needing improvement included: dentist-patient communication skills, medical records, appointment systems, and shortening of the waiting time to access the dentist., (Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel)

The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) have had leading roles in organisation, assessment and improvement of surgical training in the United Kingdom. This was particularly well illustrated by the establishment of the fellowship examination in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (FRCSEd, OMFS).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide developmental information about digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) support applications for an image management and communication system (IMACS)., Study Design: An oral and maxillofacial radiology IMACS that uses a proprietary image format was implemented in March 1997 in a general hospital dental clinic that supports more than 100 cubicles. DICOM was implemented into this system in 1998., Results: In March 1997, the clinic directly began processing oral and maxillofacial radiographs with digital image acquisition devices or converted them into proprietary digital format with a film digitizer. The digital images could then be viewed at workstations in the 11 different divisions of the department. A DICOM module was implemented to convert proprietary images into DICOM in June 1998. After the release of DICOM Supplement 32 on a digital x-ray, DICOM was implemented into the oral and maxillofacial radiology IMACS with a DICOM server and browser in June 1999. We describe the steps we took to implement this system in our institution with a brief report on the evaluation of this system., Conclusion: We implemented a DICOM oral and maxillofacial IMACS that complies with the American College of Radiology and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association Standard DICOM, version 3.0. Most DICOM service classes and roles are supported.