[Tools of the Internet in maxillofacial surgery and oral medicine. Practical applications]

Internet has a wide range of functions applicable in the medical domain. Its use has had a clear impact on routine medical practice. The user can consult colleagues, send and receive multimedia files, order books from the library, access specialized reviews or worldwide scientific data on-line as well as publish results, and participate in forums, telephone or organize teleconferences in real time. Faced with the abundance of the available information flow and the methodological difficulty in extracting precisely useful data, the ordinary user can wander a long time in cyber-space before learning the skills required for efficient navigation. We recall here the fundamental principles of the Internet and describe the types of information the maxillofacial surgeon can use in his everyday practice. Certain unanswered questions are debated as well as certain difficulties related to the use of the Internet in its present state of development.