Practice of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Nepal: Its Scope and Influencing Factor.

Objectives: Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a relatively newer and growing specialty of dentistry in Nepal whose scope is not yet estimated. The objective of this study was to estimate the scope and the factors influencing the scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery in Nepal.

Study Design: In this cross-sectional study, all the oral and maxillofacial surgeons who were registered in the Nepalese Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (NAOMS) were included (purposive sampling). The structured questionnaires were distributed to them, the collected data were entered in Microsoft excel 2010, and variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage) by SPSS 16.0.

Results: Out of 46 questionnaires distributed, 35 were responded and returned (response rate = 76%). Majority of participants (77.1%) were in 30-39 years of age group. Male to female ratio was 4 : 1. More than half (68.6%) of the participants had practice experience of <5 years, and none had practice experience of >20 years. The ratio of the surgeons practiced in Medical/Dental Teaching Hospital to those in Government Hospital was 3 : 1. Sixteen (45.7%) participants practiced in Capital Valley and none in Far-Western Development Region. Traumatology was practiced by thirty-four (97.1%) participants although only twenty-three (65.7%) participants had primary interest in it. Each of oncology, orthognathic surgery, implantology, and cleft lip/palate surgery was performed by <8% of the participants. Common factors influencing the practice were inadequate training (71.4%) and insufficient facilities/infrastructures (45.7%).

Conclusion: The scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery is limited in Nepal, and oncology, implantology, cleft lip/palate, and orthognathic surgery have received little attention.