Article by Batchelor PA, Ludwa RAR--The review of Oral Surgery Services and Training: a case of a prescription without a diagnosis

P n their invited editorial on the development of oral surgery OS) services, Batchelor and Ladwa1 highlight some of the ssues that arose from the Medical Education England (MEE) eview.2 The cost arguments in particular are worthy of disussion. The bizarre and contradictory suggestions from the eport included that the development of a new primary care ervice and new training pathway were the financial solution o a tariff that artificially elevated the price of secondary care ork, where facilities and skills already existed. It also sugested that any financial savings made by these suggestions hould be reinvested in the primary care service in any case o ensure that it remains attractive to patients. One suggestion is that general dental practitioners (GDPs) ould provide much of the service if required, although s pointed out undergraduate dental education leaves many ewly qualified dentists ill-prepared. For example a recent tudy of the undergraduate curriculum found that only 23% f students were able to demonstrate competency in denoalveolar surgery.3 Some dental schools have no formal ssessment at all.4 In addition, when the GDP contract proided sufficient remuneration to make a specialist practice n primary care viable5 up to a third of GDPs continued to efer patients to secondary care purely on financial grounds.6 he required re-structuring of undergraduate dental trainng and additional reform of the NHS contract that would rovide sufficient incentives for GDPs to carry out significant