A nationwide survey of undergraduate training in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

PURPOSE: To investigate the current status of undergraduate training in oral and maxillofacial (OMF) surgery in Germany using a nationwide survey and hence contribute to an educational improvement in the field.

METHODS: A 39-item questionnaire was sent to all university clinics with an OMF surgery chair in Germany (n = 34).

RESULTS: Ninety-two percent of OMF clinics are involved in the curricular training in medicine and 100% in dentistry. Eighty-one percent of OMF clinics perform curricular examinations and, respectively, 86% in dentistry. Examinations are mainly performed written with multiple-choice tests (62% medicine, 76% dentistry) and using non-structured oral examinations (57% medicine, 86% dentistry). Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are only used in 19% of all faculties.

CONCLUSION: OMF surgery with its involvement both in medical and dental education has a special position as a surgical discipline. Our results show that OMF as a specialty is underrepresented in dental and especially in medical education considering the numerical and health economic importance of OMF consultations. Enhancing curricular integration and developing more structured examination forms is necessary to guarantee a high quality of OMF education.