Women in oral and maxillofacial surgery: the Australasian experience

There continues to be an underrepresentation of women in oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) despite an increase in the number of female medical and dental students. This study aims to characterize the number of female OMS surgeons and the number of female specialists among surgical and dental specialties in Australia.

The number of registered dental and medical specialists was publicly available from the Health Workforce (2013-2022). Data was requested from the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons (RACDS) and Australia and New Zealand Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (ANZAOMS) regarding distribution by sex, surgical and dental specialty. The results were collated descriptively.

There were 49 registered OMS surgical trainees with RACDS in 2023, 7 (14%) of whom were female. There were a total of 304 members of ANZAOMS in the same year, 33 (10.86%) were female. Female surgical specialists compromised of 16.6% of all registered surgical specialists and female dental specialist compromised of 31.3% of total registered specialists.

While there has been a steady increase in the number of females in OMS, the number remains low; especially when compared to other surgical and dental specialties. There remains a need to further the opportunities for women aspiring to be OMS surgeons.