Knowledge of final-year medical students about oral and maxillofacial surgery: a two-centre study

The aim of this study was to assess the exposure of final-year medical students to oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) and to find out how this has influenced them in terms of recruitment or possible future referral patterns. We sent questionnaires to final-year students at Oxford University and St George's University medical schools (n=100 in each) to find out how much experience they had had of the specialty, their knowledge of disease (through clinical situations), and specific knowledge about oral cancer. In both, exposure to, and knowledge about, OMFS were poor, and patients had been referred inappropriately to ear, nose, and throat (ENT) or plastic surgery. Despite targeted teaching in OMFS at both institutions, further engagement is needed, and awareness of the specialty may need to be improved at all medical schools.