Proud to be an OMS

Be unique. It’s a simple statement. One that I keep in mind when I evaluate my patients, listen to their self-criticism and requests, and make my treatment recommendations. There is an art (and science!) to both reconstructive and aesthetic enhancement, and it’s based on an individualized approach with each patient… And when I say “be unique” right now, I’m not talking about my patients. I’m talking about my specialty and the fact that our training inherently involves both aesthetics and function, which allow us be exactly that — unique. 

As OMSs we are sometimes misunderstood from an outsider’s perspective (no, we’re not “dentists,” per the familiar definition). Our education is rigorous. We are surgically trained in a hospital-based residency program for a minimum of four years alongside medical residents in other specialties, including internal medicine, general surgery and anesthesiology. Our training focuses on the bone, skin and muscle of the face, mouth and jaw and prepares us to evaluate and treat facial trauma, including facial bone and skull fractures, and lacerations of the head and neck; to perform oral and maxillofacial reconstructive surgery to correct skeletal and developmental deformities as well as those that occur as a result of trauma.

After all this training, we in the OMS specialty are EXPERTS in everything from the neck up. And more than simply capable of reconstructive facial surgery, we are attuned to the aesthetic component as well. We have to be. Nobody wants unnecessary scarring. And nobody wants to look like they’ve been patched back together. That’s a big reason I added a cosmetic surgery fellowship to my training — to take these skills to the next level; to be able to combine surgical prowess with state-of-the-art aesthetic techniques for the very best outcomes in reconstructive and elective facial surgery. 

This bearded doc is proud to be an OMS.