SYLLABUS IN ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY

I. Introduction

This syllabus outlines your course of study in Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery. The

experiences you will have in this specialized area of dentistry will be comprised of
lectures, seminars, and clinical rotations within the Dental School. This course begins the
2nd term of Year II and continues until graduation.

You will be provided general knowledge related to the specialty and be taught
clinical skills in dentoalveolar surgery sufficient to enter the general practice of dentistry.
It will become evident as you progress through this area of study that the degree of
experience and training you will receive as a predoctoral student is limited. Because it is
limited, and because each dental practitioner differs in the scope of services provided to
patients seeking care, as future practitioner you will need to make decisions related to the
breadth of services provided in your practice. This limitation of services is based upon
your training, experience, and comfortable range of operating skills. Although the
faculty in Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery will provide guidelines upon to develop your
clinical judgment, only you will be able to determine the comfortable range of services
which you can provide with safety and skill upon graduation.

Another aspect of this area of study within your curriculum is to acquire

knowledge of services that dentistry in a broader sense can provide patients. Each of us
working collectively can acquire special knowledge, special skills and thereby provide
services of specialized nature beyond the average skills of the practice of general
dentistry. Through the process of consultation we can tap the special knowledge of other
practitioners; those whose training and experience have extended their comfortable range
of operating skill and understanding of disease processes. In a similar manner, through
the process of referral of treatment beyond our own comfortable range, we can provide
our patients with treatment solutions which would be denied them if we did not have the
knowledge of advancements in science and treatment beyond our own skills.

This series of courses in Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery will provide basic knowledge

related to exodontia and other aspects of routine dentoalveolar surgery, and expose you to
major maxillofacial surgery. You will receive the didactic phase of exodontias during the
2nd term of Year II in preparation for your first rotation in the Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery
Clinic. During the Year III and Year IV, you will have three one-week rotations in the
Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic of the Dental School. In your first clinic rotation, you
will be expected to understand the principles of exodontia and demonstrate clinical ability
to remove erupted teeth.

The second portion of the didactic course during Year III provides information
sufficient to understand and manage the treatment of routine oral surgery problems;
essentially this means removing any erupted tooth preparing the alveolar ridges for
prosthetic rehabilitation. During the second rotation in surgery you will be expected to
demonstrate these skills to a greater degree of proficiency than during the first rotation.
 The second series of lectures and readings during years three and four provides
insight into the full range of knowledge and current clinical skills provided by the
specialist-trained Oral-Maxillofacial Surgeon. It is this information that will provide the
basis for consultation and referral in your practice to Oral-Maxillofacial Surgeons. This
series may also provide the stimulus for you to seek specialized training, as an Oral-
Maxillofacial Surgeon. (Members of the department will be pleased to discuss the
specialty and the rigors of training experience with you, if specialty training is of interest
to you). During your third rotation in the Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery clinic you will be
expected to assist with and manage more complicated problems such as infections,
biopsies, and oral manifestations of systemic disease.

This brief introduction outlines the essentials of your course work and clinic
experience in oral-maxillofacial surgery. We welcome you to these experiences. The
faculty stands ready to assist you in your academic and clinical endeavors in our area.