Marketing the Services of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons

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An interesting article appears in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery titled “Marketing—Preparing the Soil for Success” by James Hupp vol. 71, pp. 1-2, 2013. The article discusses how the general public does not know much about the possible health care services that an oral and maxillofacial surgeon can provide. It also is a bit of a reality check of how health care is practiced in the United States article. The article talks about a new marketing initiative and says “To me, this represents the association’s wish to start a new time of planning and laying the groundwork for a new season of better educated consumers seeking our care.” The author discusses how the image of oral and maxillofacial surgeons by the general public is not that well understood. Most would know that they remove teeth and have much … Read more

The Costs Associated with Third Molars (Wisdom Teeth)

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An interesting articled by George M. Koumaras titled “What Costs Are Associated With the Management of Third Molars?” appears in the 2012 J Oral Maxillofac Surg vol. 70, pp. 8-10, supp. 1. The article attempts to look at the costs associated with asymptomatic, disease-free, third molars (wisdom teeth). Three scenarios were explored by the author: scenario 1 (nonoperative management): retention of asymptomatic, disease-free third molars and monitoring for 20 years from age 18 to 38 years scenario 2 (operative management): removal of 2 asymptomatic, disease-free, bony impacted third molars for 18-year-old patients using general anesthesia (30 minutes) in an office-based ambulatory setting scenario 3 (failure of nonoperative management): removal of 1 previously asymptomatic, disease-free, bony impacted third molar after 10 years of follow-up in a now 28-year-old patient using general anesthesia (30 minutes) in an office-based ambulatory setting.” The author … Read more

Biostatistical Knowledge of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residents

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I found an interesting and critical study titled “Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residents Have Poor Understanding of Biostatistics,” by Al M. Best and Daniel M. Laskin appearing in the J Oral Maxillofac Surg vol. 71, pp. 227-234, 2013. The article discuss how the three main oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) journals have low quality evidence and how some of the articles can’t be taken at face value. Hence, the purpose of this study was to evaluate residents’ understanding of biostatistics and the interpretation of research results to see if the curricula of training programs should be changed to better prepare clinicians to practice evidence-based dentistry. In the study a 6 question survey was developed for OMS residents and compared to results for a similar survey of medical residents. Further, questions looking into demographic characteristics, the methodologic courses residents may have … Read more

Looking at Evidence Supporting Dental Procedures from Cochrane Systematic Reviews

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An interesting article titled “Is the Evidence Supporting Dental Procedures Strong? A Survey of Cochrane Systematic Reviews in Oral Health” by Clovis Mariano Faggion Jr. appears in J Evid Base Dent Pract, vol. 12, pp. 131-134, 2012. The article sets out to explore Cochrane systematic reviews and whether or not they provide useful information for use in dentistry. The author set out to look at the quality of evidence for Cochrane systematic reviews published in dentistry. The evidence was considered inadequate when authors described weak or insufficient evidence or when no studies were selected for the review. A total of 120 systematic reviews were looked at for 20 topics. The author did have some creative interpretation to assess the reviews. He states: “The full text of articles was, however, scrutinized to assess the risk of bias of included primary studies; methodological … Read more

Planning Intravenous Sedation for Wisdom Teeth Surgery

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An article (in press at the time of writing this -2012) appears in the International Journal of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery titled “Does planned intravenous sedation affect preoperative anxiety in patients?” by M. Seto, Y. Sakamoto, H. Takahashi, R. Kita, and T. Kikuta. The authors set out to evaluate The Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) which can be used to evaluate levels of state and trait anxiety. State anxiety is defined as a subjective feeling of nervousness, whereas trait anxiety is defined as an individual’s underlying tendency to perceive a situation as stressful or threatening. One hundred and eleven (111) Japanese patients who were scheduled to have wisdom teeth extracted under local anesthesia were evaluated. STAI evaluates the degree anxiety based on 5 stages. The article states “The authors assessed preoperative anxiety using STAI at the initial visit and recommended … Read more