Gender changes in oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) in the UK 1996 to 2030. Current trends suggest gender parity of those joining the OMFS specialist list may be achieved by 2048

Abstract

In their 2022 paper Newman et al compared gender diversity between UK surgical specialties. It omitted the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS), which is one of the ten General Medical Council recognised surgical specialties. When challenged, the authors did not provide data for OMFS. This paper analyses OMFS using a similar statistical approach but using specialty data rather than that held by NHS Digital. Data returned from NHS Digital about OMFS in 2022 did not accurately reflect known data. Alternative data was obtained from the General Medical Council with a Freedom of Information request for the OMFS specialist list in January 2024. These data were combined with a database of current OMFS trainees and retired OMFS consultants. For OMFS specialists, their date of entry onto the OMFS specialist list was used. For current trainees the average duration of OMFS training was added to the start date of their training. For both groups the gender cited on the GMC listing was used. The dataset consisted of 862 UK surgeons: 114 retired OMFS consultants, 571 currently on the OMFS specialist list and 177 in OMFS specialty training. Of this group 734 (85%) were male and 128 (15%) female. By plotting year of entry onto the OMFS specialist list for specialists and estimated year of Completion of Surgical Training for specialty trainees using linear projection in Excel©, gender parity of those joining the OMFS specialist list could happen in 2048 (24 years).