Yesuratnam D, Balasubramanyam S, Nagasujatha D, Vedatrayi T, Rani B Usha, Pasupuleti Anitha
Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Govt Dental College and Hospital, RIMS, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Indian J Dent Res. 2020 Mar-Apr;31(2):257-262. doi: 10.4103/ijdr.IJDR_763_18.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) is a dental specialty evolving from the anatomical region of head and neck. Differing from the belief, its scope does not start and end with teeth. The aim of the study was to survey the perception of OMFS among dental, medical, and paramedical professionals.
A structured questionnaire cross-sectional survey made up of 17 clinical situations pertaining to various complaints of patients was distributed among 50 medical and dental undergraduates, 50 medical and dental practitioners, and 50 general populations with a total number of 250 samples who were selected randomly. The collected data was tabulated using Microsoft excel for any predictable patterns. The results were analyzed taking absolute percentages of the responses into consideration.
The results were compiled and tabulated and the data analyzed. While wisdom tooth removal, trauma, and facial bone fractures were recognized to be mainly treated by maxillofacial surgeons, the other maxillofacial problems were poorly recognized to be treated by our specialty. In our study, 67.3% of general public and 62.4% of medical professionals approached other medical specialist for the clinical conditions. The Chi-square results of few clinical situations were statistically significant with a P value of less than 0.05, which suggest that there is indeed a statistically significant difference between the responses of medical profession and the public on whom to approach regarding certain clinical cases.
The study revealed that the majority of the public are lacking in knowledge about the benefits that the specialty can offer. It has been found that even though the Medical professionals are better informed, lacunae existed about information as to where our major activity lies. If patients are to have access to the best treatment available, it is essential that we edify the public about the scope of our specialty.
口腔颌面外科（OMFS）是一门从 head 和 neck 的解剖区域发展而来的牙科专业。与人们的认知不同，其范围并非始于牙齿也不止于牙齿。本研究的目的是调查牙科、医学和辅助医疗专业人员对口腔颌面外科的认知。
一项由 17 种与患者各种主诉相关的临床情况组成的结构化问卷调查，随机分发给 50 名医学和牙科本科生、50 名医学和牙科从业者以及 50 名普通人群，共 250 个样本。使用 Microsoft excel 将收集到的数据制成表格，以寻找任何可预测的模式。分析结果时考虑了回答的绝对百分比。
对结果进行了汇总、制表并分析数据。虽然智齿拔除、创伤和面部骨折被认为主要由颌面外科医生治疗，但其他颌面问题很少被认为由我们专业治疗。在我们的研究中，67.3%的普通公众和 62.4%的医学专业人员针对这些临床情况求助于其他医学专家。少数临床情况的卡方检验结果具有统计学意义，P 值小于 0.05，这表明在某些临床病例应求助于谁的问题上，医学专业人员和公众的回答之间确实存在统计学上的显著差异。
该研究表明，大多数公众对该专业所能提供的益处缺乏了解。已发现，尽管医学专业人员了解得更多，但在我们主要活动所在方面仍存在信息空白。如果患者要获得最佳可用治疗，我们向公众宣传我们专业的范围至关重要。
