The Canadian Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (CAOMS) is a not-for-profit organization that serves the needs of hundreds of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons across Canada. It is designed to support the ongoing practise requirements of OMFS and ensure that they are able to maintain excellence in their area of specialty – translating into the best possible care for our patients. Through continuing education and regular meetings, support of ongoing research, and representing and advocating for the needs of our specialty to various interest groups, CAOMS enables the continued advancement of our profession. As the President of CAOMS, I thought I would share a couple of the projects that our members are currently focussing on, all with the common goal of continued provision of safe and ethical dental care for Canadians.
One topic of particular interest to the OMFS community continues to be in the realm of general anaesthesia and sedation. With recent national news stories from across North America drawing attention to the potential dangers associated with these techniques, it is incumbent upon us all to continue to strive for safe provision of such care in all arenas – be they dental offices, non-hospital surgical centres, or formal operating theatres. Our members, by way of our residency training, remain at the forefront in both knowledge and application of such adjunctive modalities. Additionally, the CAOMS maintains an informal yet close link with the Canadian Dental Society for Anesthesiology. Thus, OMFS across Canada are greatly invested in the safe provision of anaesthetic services to our dental patients. Looking to the future, CAOMS will be hosting a consensus conference on anesthesia, gathering input from surgical residency training programs and Dental Regulatory Authorities across Canada. With this, we hope to establish guidelines for office-based anaesthesia, to be implemented within any individual’s regulatory framework.
Several members of our executive team recently returned from spending time with our “American cousins”, where they joined members of the AAOMS in meeting with members of the US House of Representatives. In addressing OMFS issues of importance during their annual “Days on the Hill” in Washington, DC, American OMFS are able to open up a dialogue with individual House Reps and advocate for improved patient care. Exercises such as these help CAOMS to better understand how to approach our own leaders in government, in order to advocate on behalf of Canadians.
CAOMS organizes and hosts an annual national meeting in the spring of each year. Our most recent conference, “Innovation, Simulation and Navigation: 3D Solutions in Maxillofacial Reconstruction” was recently held in Montréal, Quebec. This well-attended meeting overflowed with top-notch speakers and entertainment. We have already commenced planning for next year’s meeting, exploring topics related to going “Back to Basics in OMFS”. Readers of Oral Health are most cordially invited to join us in Calgary in the spring of 2019, and are referred to our website (caoms.com) for further details and registration.
I am most grateful for this opportunity to share a little bit about our national specialty organization with you. Thank you to Oral Health for again devoting one of their issues to the practice of OMFS, and thanks to Dr. Bruce Pynn for permitting me to shine the spotlight on a group near and dear to me! OH
About the Author
Dr. Dale is the current President of CAOMS, and the immediate Past-President of the Manitoba Dental Association. She maintains a private practice in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is an Associate Clinical Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, and is the WRHA’s Section Head and Regional Lead for Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.
