Minor oral surgery in the primary care setting

Abstract

Research suggests that the level of dental undergraduate experience of core clinical skills in oral surgery could be enhanced. Surgical extraction of teeth has been identified as one of the areas that vocational dental practitioners and their trainers feel least prepared for by their undergraduate training. Furthermore, many dental graduates do not feel that they have sufficient practical experience in minor surgical procedures to complete them in practice. The resultant effect is that minor oral surgery cases are often referred to secondary care facilities despite the possibility that some cases could have been treated in the primary care sector.