I wanted to alert those who may not know that there is a bit of battle going on right now between the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS). In September 2009, the AMA published a document in it’s “Scope of Practice Data Series” on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.
In this document the AMA essentially goes after oral and maxillofacial surgeons and calls into question their education, training, and proficiency.
One quote from the document is…
“The AMA holds patient safety in the highest regard and opposes the practice of medicine by those oral surgeons who have not obtained a medical degree.”
Another quote is…
“Oral and maxillofacial training programs for dentists simply cannot duplicate the medical education that physicians receive, which prepares the physician to asses and respond to unexpected medical complications observed during surgery, manage the post-operative recovery and follow-up care of patients, and fully address the systemic needs of surgical patients who may have chronic health conditions that can exacerbate their risks for adverse events during surgery.”
In response to this the current immediate past president of AAOMS (president at the time of the article) Ira D. Cheifetz wrote a publication titled “AAOMS challenges AMA data series comments on OMS, dentistry.”
Ira D. Cheifetz says in this publication…
“So pervasive are the document’s errors and rash conclusions that AAOMS declined to provide detailed comments; instead, we asked the AMA to meet with us to discuss all the issues surrounding this document.”
The highest ranking officials of both the AAOMS and the AMA had a meeting to discuss and attempt to resolve these issues. A two hour discussion between the parties occurred on May 13, 2010 at the AAOMS headquarters.
The AAOMS is still attempting to get the AMA to retract the AMA Scope of Practice Data Series on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and the AMA House of Delegates is considering this. See Resolution 217 “Retract the AMA Scope of Practice Data Series: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons”. While, this resolution was considered it was not approved.
This document says…
“Unless the OMS Scope Document is retracted, this matter is likely to result in litigation.”
With over 100 deaths caused by oral surgeons trying to play anesthesiologist in the last 10 years how can the AMA and ADA continue to allow them to practice in the manner they do?! Not to mention insurance companies who should simply stop allowing the oral surgeon to double bill for the oral surgery and the anesthesia at the same time … To any patient out there, you should demand a 2nd provider trained in anesthesia whether that be an MD, DO, CRNA or dentist with formal anesthesia residency training otherwise you are taking undue risk so an oral surgeon can make $ … not worth it!