Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery: Associations

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is the surgical specialty that includes the diagnosis, surgical and related treatments of a wide spectrum of diseases, injuries, defects and aesthetic aspects of the mouth, teeth, jaws, face, head and neck. It is an internationally recognized surgical specialty.

Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are trained to treat and care for patients who experience such conditions as problem wisdom teeth, facial pain, and misaligned jaws. They treat accident victims suffering facial injuries, offer reconstructive and dental implant surgery, and care for patients with tumors, cysts, and developmental cran iofacial abnormalities of the jaws/ face and functional and aesthetic conditions of the maxillofacial areas.

The scope of this specialty is extensive and concerns the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the oral (mouth) and maxillofacial (face and neck) regions.
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMS) frequently work alongside other specialists including dentists, orthodontists, prosthodontists, radiologists, pathologists, oncologists, ENT surgeons, neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons and other professionals allied to medicine.

The AOMSI is a registered organization and admits qualified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons as Life or Annual members. The Association is committed to the promotion of the specialty through its scientific deliberations and social causes. The Journal is called 'The Journal of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery' and is the official publication of the Association. It is published four times a year from its office in Bangalore.
The Association has two major conventions every year. The Annual Conference is held in November / December in pre-determined venues around the country. The Mid-Term Conference is focussed on post graduate students and trainees and is a two day conference held in June / July every year. In addition, the AOMSI officially participates in Continuing Education programmes held by its members in different parts of the country.

Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Medicine, and Pathology (J Oral Maxillofac Surg Med Pathol ) is the official peer-reviewed, bimonthly publication of the Asian AOMS. The Journal is indexed in EMBASE/Excerpta Medica and is circulated to all members of the Asian AOMS, as well as to subscribers internationally.

Garretson, born 18 years after Hullihen, must have been greatly influenced by him. He was Professor of Anatomy at the Philadelphia College of Anatomy and was appointed Oral Surgeon to the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A gifted and dynamic teacher, he published the first book on oral surgery, Garretson's System of Oral Surgery, which ran through six editions between 1869 and 1890.
Garretson's teachings reached far afield, influencing such notables as Brophy, Gilmer and Cryer. He devised improved methods for operating on the jaws, including a method of sectioning the jaw for the correction of prognathism. An anatomist of worldwide reputation, he produced the chapter on the anatomy of the face and jaws in Gray's Anatomy, and his own book on facial anatomy is a classic. He also had some 100 papers published in the Dental Cosmos, a superlative journal that recognized the significance of oral surgery and which was widely read by dentists in Canada.

In Canada Dr. George Beers of Montreal is recognized as the first dentist to specialize in oral surgery. Prior to his death in 1900, he was widely regarded as the most outstanding dentist that Canada had yet produced. He founded and edited the Canada Journal of Dental Science, a publication of high scientific and literary standard for the period. It provides the only reliable history of the profession in Canada during the period of its publication.

IAOMS seeks to constantly expand its leadership role in improving the quality of oral and maxillofacial surgery healthcare worldwide. Its objectives are to:

Identify, coordinate, facilitate, and communicate research and patient care priorities internationally.
Communicate with government and international agencies regarding the priorities and strategies for improving care to the underserved.
Facilitate the establishment of training centers in developing countries and provide academic assistance as appropriate.
To evaluate and disseminate advance in other branches of medicine and dentistry worldwide.
Develop a bank of information of learning concerning patient care strategies and make them available through electronic and other means.
Develop practitioner-effective and friendly methods of international electronic communication and telemedicine to improve OMS healthcare.