Maxillofacial prosthetics: demand and responsibility.

Graduates of maxillofacial prosthetic training programs during 1980 through 1984 were surveyed to evaluate the demand for maxillofacial prosthetic services in the United States. The recent change in requirements for advanced education programs in prosthodontics and the increasing numbers of those with additional training in maxillofacial prosthetics suggests that the demand for these services is decreasing. In addition, there appears to be a distinct separation of institutional from private office management of patients. Because of these changes, the concept of maxillofacial prosthetic training and practice as known in the past may change with an increasing role for the hospital-based dentist in the interim management of these patients.