Oral Surgery Curriculum

Introduction

Oral Surgery encompasses the investigation, diagnosis and management of conditions and pathology of the teeth, mouth, and jaws including medical and surgical interventions. Whilst primarily involving more complex treatment of adults, adolescents and children, it may also involve the management of patients who experience anxiety in dental settings or have significant medical comorbidities. These additional surgical, demographic, social, medical, and psychological complexities require specific training in patient and procedural risk assessment and management to prevent unnecessary complications.  The specialist oral surgeon will be competent to perform extractions and surgery of the soft and hard tissues in the orofacial region under local anaesthesia, local anaesthesia with sedation or under general anaesthesia and they will have undergone training to gain additional knowledge and skills in the anatomical and surgical domain of oral surgery.

Multi- and interdisciplinary team-working is essential in the delivery of Oral Surgery be it in general practice, specialist practice and hospital environments. The specialty includes clinical, research and teaching elements.

The purpose of the Oral Surgery specialty curriculum is to allow training and assessment of trainees against a series of competencies and capabilities that will ensure their ability to provide high quality and evidence based patient care in the field of oral surgery. The Oral Surgery specialty curriculum sets out the specialist knowledge, skills, and capabilities for the attainment of the award of the Certificate of Completion of Specialty Training (CCST). Successful candidates will be eligible to apply for inclusion on the GDC specialist list for Oral Surgery and be eligible to use the title of “Specialist in Oral Surgery”.