What do dental students expect from oral and maxillofacial surgery externships?

INTRODUCTION: Limited information exists on the goals and expectations of dental students from oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) externships. This information is valuable to OMS residency programs. Dental students use externships to gain insight into various OMS residency programs.  The purpose of this project was to answer the following question: "what do dental students expect from OMS externships?" PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to report the expectations of dental students from OMS externships. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study took place from June 2015 to September 2019. Every student completing an Emory OMS externship completed an anonymous survey. The survey consisted of questions regarding (1) demographics, (2) previous OMS experience, and (3) open-ended questions regarding expectations and sources of anxiety. Answers were grouped into categories with similar answers. Descriptive statistics summarized data. RESULTS: Of 116 externs who completed the survey, the majority were males (n = 80, 68.9%) with a mean age of 25 (range 21-30) years old in the 3rd/4th year of dental school. Most had previous OMS experience (n = 103, 89.6%) and plan to apply to OMS residency (n = 104, 90.4%). Most externs hoped to learn about life as a resident and the scope and culture of the program. Externs expressed the highest level of anxiety regarding their own experience and/or knowledge level. CONCLUSIONS: This project demonstrated that during the externship, externs expect to gain insight into the daily activities, scope, and culture of the OMS program they are visiting.

The Proportion of Female Authors in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Literature Has not Changed in 20 Years.

PURPOSE: Academic advancement often depends on publications and reflects the leadership within a profession. The present study compared the number of articles written by women in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (JOMS) versus the number of women in the profession of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of articles published in JOMS at 3 time points (1995, 2005, and 2015). The primary predictor variables were author gender and the 3 time points (1995, 2005, and 2015). Gender was established by visual inspection. The primary outcome variable was the proportion of articles written by women, defined as number of articles written by a woman divided by the total number of female members in the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS). The inclusion criteria were 1) original, full-length research articles in JOMS, 2) authorship by a woman, and 3) articles reported from a US academic institution. A 2-tailed χ2 test was used. The rate of change in female authorship over time was analyzed using linear regression analysis, followed by the F test (statistical significance was set at P < .05). RESULTS: During the years examined, the number of first and last female authors ranged from 3 to 6.3%. Approximately 7% of oral-maxillofacial surgeons registered with AAOMS in 2015 were women. Comparing the expected proportion of female authorship according to the number of female surgeons registered with AAOMS, the proportions of female first authorship were significantly lower than expected in 1995 and 2015. Female authorship was found to be significantly less than expected. Using linear regression analysis, we found no statistically significant changes in the proportion of female first or last authorship in the period examined (P = .69 and P = .99, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: During the years examined, we found no significant increase in female authorship in JOMS, demonstrating an area of opportunity to improve gender disparity in OMS.

Quality of life outcomes after third molar removal in subjects with minor symptoms of pericoronitis.

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to assess the effect of third molar removal on the quality of life in subjects with symptoms of pericoronitis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Healthy subjects (American Society of Anesthesiologists Classes I and II), aged 18 to 35 years, with minor symptoms of pericoronitis affecting at least 1 mandibular third molar were recruited for an institutional review board-approved study. The exclusion criteria were major symptoms of pericoronitis, generalized periodontal disease, body mass index greater than 29 kg/m(2), and antibiotic or tobacco use. The data from patients undergoing surgery to remove all third molars with a follow-up examination after surgery at least 3 months later were included in these analyses. The clinical, demographic, and quality of life data were collected at enrollment and after surgery. At entry, the debris was removed from symptomatic third molar sites; no attempt was made to mechanically remove nonsheddable biofilm. The patients scheduled surgery electively with a recall examination at least 3 months after surgery. RESULTS: The median age of the 60 subjects was 21.9 years (interquartile range 20.2 to 24.7). The median postoperative follow-up was 7.7 months (interquartile range 6.0 to 12.4). The proportion of patients reporting the worst pain as severe decreased from enrollment to after surgery from 32% to 3%. Those responding "none" for the worst pain increased from 10% to 78%. Fifteen percent of subjects reported the pain intensity as "nothing," "faint," or "very weak" at enrollment. This increased to 96% after surgery. One third of patients reported the unpleasantness of pain as "neutral," "slightly unpleasant," or "slightly annoying" at enrollment, which increased to 97% after surgery. Also, 22% and 18% of the patients reported "quite a bit" or "lots of difficulty" with eating desired foods and chewing foods at enrollment, respectively; only 1 patient reported this degree of difficulty at the follow-up examination. In contrast, 42% and 37% of the patients reported no difficulty with eating and chewing at enrollment, which had increased to 95% and 93% at the follow-up examination, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Removal of the third molars positively influenced the quality of life outcomes in those with minor symptoms of pericoronitis.