oral surgeon

The Single Operator Model of Sedation Leads to Caleb’s Law

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Oral and maxillofacial surgeons who practice in the United States provide anesthesia differently than do others in the medical profession. This has been discussed before on this site in posts such as Updated Sedation Guidelines in Dentistry for Children. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are allowed to provide anesthesia using what is known as a single operator model. The single operator model allows for one trained and certified operator in anesthesia to administer both the sedation and/or anesthesia and perform the dental work. In many of these cases with a single operator model a dental assistant with no medical training monitors the patient’s vital signs. All other doctors in medicine provide anesthesia using a dual operator model where there are at least two individuals who have training and up-to-date certification in patient rescue. Some patients and doctors/doctor groups in medicine do … Read more

Outcomes Data Registry for Dentistry

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Using large amounts of data from many different dentists or surgeons is a way to improve the quality of healthcare. From such clinical data registries in healthcare many things can be gleaned regarding information about individual surgeries or medical devices. The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) has recently launched OMS Quality Outcomes Registry or OMSQOR for short which is discussed on pages 7-12 of the March/April 2019 issue of AAOMS Today. The groundwork for OMSQOR actually began in 2014 and OMSQOR officially launched in January 2019. The way OMSQOR works is that treatment data from all members who participate will be collected in a national registry that will be used to help improve the quality of care and patient outcomes. Such quality data will allow for tracking surgical outcomes, complications, and possible gaps in treatment. OMSQOR will … Read more

Difference Between Oral Surgeons and Dentists

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If a patient is in need of dental treatment there are different specialists to consider. Depending on the type of dental treatment being received a patient may be better off seeing a dentist or may be better off seeing an oral surgeon. Thus it is important to better understand the types of treatments a dentist and oral surgeon performs to be able to determine who to seek out. Treatments Performed by Dentists General dentists provide preventative care and maintenance. Preventive care includes performing dental cleanings, taking and interpreting x-rays, performing oral examinations, and monitoring the growth and development of teeth and jaws. Maintenance includes performing fillings of cavities, root canals for teeth that can not be restored, placing crowns, and other surgical procedures of the teeth, bone and soft tissues of the oral cavity. By seeing a dentist patients are … Read more

Profit Motives in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Utilizing Sedation

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Recently on this site it was discussed how guidelines have come out from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommending when deep sedation or general anesthesia is given to children in dental offices there should be two trained individuals present. One individual should provide the dentistry and the other individual is responsible to administer the sedation or anesthesia and to observe the patient for any adverse events. This goes against the single provider model that has been advocated by the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) and is typically utilized for wisdom teeth removal in the United States of America, where the oral surgeon performs both the dentistry and the administration of sedation or anesthesia. Some have criticized the AAOMS position of a single provider model for its focus on profit … Read more

Improving the Mental Health of Oral Surgeons

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Before on this site mental health of dentists has been discussed and particularly addressing mental health issues early on such as during dental education see for example the posts A Counseling Model for Dental Students, Designing a Predoctoral Dental Curriculum To Help With Therapy Issues such as Stress Management and Suicide Prevention, and Medical Students Are At Risk For Suicide. However, many oral surgeons are still afraid to own up to any mental health issues they may have. This is discussed in the editorial titled “Time to change the narrative” appearing in Oral Surgery in 2018 (vol. 11, pp. 97–97). The editorial discusses how oral surgery is increasing a stressful profession. This is because of increasing threats of litigation along with patients increasing having higher expectations of surgical outcomes. The traits that define a good surgeon are those who put … Read more