CONTROVERSIES IN 3RD MOLAR SURGERY - THE NATIONAL VIEW ON REVIEW STRATEGIES

A national survey was conducted to establish the current practice of p ostoperative review of third molar surgery by the 255 fellows of the B ritish Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Of the 216 comp lete responses, 134 say that they routinely reviewed all patients, whi le 67 did not, A further 15 fellows (7%) are currently considering the ir practice, Five (2%) stated that routine review should be compulsory and failure to do so was medically negligent, We conclude that a poli cy of selective rather than routine review is safe for most patients, but if a patient is under age, mentally retarded, taking psychoactive drugs, or has any other associated condition, then routine follow-up s hould be undertaken.