Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Curriculum (2021) and Oral Surgery Curriculum (2023): A forensic comparison of two documents

Abstract

In the UK Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) and Oral Surgery (OS) are distinct specialties governed respectively by the General Medical Council (GMC) and General Dental Council (GDC) respectively. There has always been overlap of training and care between both specialties. The OMFS curriculum was updated in 2021 and the Oral Surgery Curriculum in 2023. This paper quantitatively compares the two documents. The generic professional elements of both curricula are extensive and similar in content. The specialty specific elements of the OS and OMFS curricula, with focus on knowledge domains and competencies including index procedures and critical conditions, were compared with the level of coincidence colour coded: green (matching), amber (some overlap) and red (not present). OMFS curriculum contains all components of the new UK OS curriculum with the exception of formal documented competence in conscious sedation for dentistry. This overlap between OMFS and OS has been recognised by the General Dental Council who give OMFS specialists direct access to the Oral Surgery specialist list by Route 4. In contrast, the OS overlap with OMFS is limited, particularly in the important critical/emergency conditions where ‘competence’ has been replaced by ‘experience of’ in the 2023 OS curriculum in the domains of trauma and acute infections. This change will preclude OS specialists trained on the new curriculum being able to share on-call with OMFS specialists without significant additional training. We hope this comparison will be useful to those commissioning services and also for young dentists/doctors considering their future careers.