Facial trauma--who should provide care?

The management of facial trauma is key to the development and longevity of the specialty of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Advances in material technology and surgical evolution have kept pace with increasingly complex fracture configurations. Soft tissue components of major craniofacial injuries are best managed in a multidisciplinary environment. This may be facilitated by a nominated team within specific trauma centres. Trauma management of the face is a continuum with both training implications and clinical governance issues. There is no uniformly accepted staging of severity, and no accepted quantifiable outcome measures. Until there are, craniofacial trauma management will remain anecdotal.