Recruitment of Future Maxillofacial Surgeons

Abstract

The recent General Dental Council (GDC) statements on ‘The practice of dentistry by non GDC registrants’ and the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) position statement on the ‘The practice of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) by non-GDC medical registrants’ are both timely and welcome (Newsletter from the President of the Br Assoc Oral Maxillofac Surg, April, 2008). These position statements will enable medical graduates to take up OMFS posts prior to attending dental school and go some way to addressing concerns we raised over the future recruitment of Maxillofacial Surgeons.1Gibbons A.J. Moss C.E. From where will future Maxillofacial Surgeons be recruited?.Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2008; 46: 423Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2) Google ScholarThe new Medical Foundation Programme requires doctors to make decisions on their surgical careers much earlier than before and the opportunities for doctors to gain exposure to OMFS are very limited. Where possible we would encourage all OMFS Units that currently give Senior House Officer (SHO) posts to medical graduates to consider providing slots on their training programmes for Foundation Year 2 doctors. This would maintain the pool of potential medical graduate applicants for careers in OMFS. However, medical deans may be reluctant to fund this and dental deans are keen to transfer all SHO posts into the new Dental Foundation Programme.The excellent attendance by both medical and dental graduates pursuing a career in oral and maxillofacial surgery at this year's OMFS Junior Trainees Conference was extremely encouraging. Nevertheless, despite the GDC and BAOMS statements, the effect on OMFS recruitment of replacing SHOs with time limited Dental Foundation Programme trainees and the re-introduction of the speciality of Oral Surgery remains to be established. The recent General Dental Council (GDC) statements on ‘The practice of dentistry by non GDC registrants’ and the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) position statement on the ‘The practice of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) by non-GDC medical registrants’ are both timely and welcome (Newsletter from the President of the Br Assoc Oral Maxillofac Surg, April, 2008). These position statements will enable medical graduates to take up OMFS posts prior to attending dental school and go some way to addressing concerns we raised over the future recruitment of Maxillofacial Surgeons.1Gibbons A.J. Moss C.E. From where will future Maxillofacial Surgeons be recruited?.Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2008; 46: 423Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2) Google Scholar The new Medical Foundation Programme requires doctors to make decisions on their surgical careers much earlier than before and the opportunities for doctors to gain exposure to OMFS are very limited. Where possible we would encourage all OMFS Units that currently give Senior House Officer (SHO) posts to medical graduates to consider providing slots on their training programmes for Foundation Year 2 doctors. This would maintain the pool of potential medical graduate applicants for careers in OMFS. However, medical deans may be reluctant to fund this and dental deans are keen to transfer all SHO posts into the new Dental Foundation Programme. The excellent attendance by both medical and dental graduates pursuing a career in oral and maxillofacial surgery at this year's OMFS Junior Trainees Conference was extremely encouraging. Nevertheless, despite the GDC and BAOMS statements, the effect on OMFS recruitment of replacing SHOs with time limited Dental Foundation Programme trainees and the re-introduction of the speciality of Oral Surgery remains to be established.