Oral and maxillofacial surgery and dental health education in undergraduate medicine: a systematic review

Abstract

Undergraduates in medicine should receive a basic education to ensure understanding of dental concepts, including oral cancer, basic dental health advice, and oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS). This review aims to explore the exposure of OMFS and dental education in the UK medical undergraduate curriculum and follows PRISMA protocols. Four databases were used to search for literature: MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar. A three-tier reviewer panel was used to appropriately evaluate data. The Medical Education Research Quality Instrument (MERSQI) was used to assess research quality amongst the included literature. A total of 14 papers were included for review. Surveys assessing medical students' perceptions of OMFS education indicate a need for improvement of the speciality in undergraduate medicine. Mean exposure of graduating medical students to OMFS was 22% (95%CI 11 to 29%). Knowledge of relevant anatomy, physiology, and OMFS-related data was very poor across all surveys. Likewise, oral cancer teaching appears to have room for improvement, only 7% (95%CI 4.1 to 10.3%) of final year medical students can identify oral cancer and less than 20% felt confident in oral assessment and diagnosis. This appears to transfer over into postgraduate medicine where only a mean of 22% of general practitioners can correctly diagnose oral cancer. The results of this review indicate that OMFS and oral cancer are not well covered in the medical curriculum. Doctors require a basic understanding of the OMFS speciality for appropriate referrals and clinical management. Furthermore, the ability of doctors to correctly deal with oral medical problems should be improved to optimise patient outcomes.

Keywords: dental education; medical education; oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS); undergraduate medicine.