SERVICE-MIX OF ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGEONS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW-ZEALAND

This study aimed to investigate the service-mix of oral and maxillofac ial surgeons and its association with patient age, sex, and referral s ources. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia and New Zealand w ere surveyed (n=97; 71.9% response rate), and they supplied service-mi x data from a week-long log of services provided to 5770 patients. Den toalveolar services comprised 67.0% of services. Subcategories of serv ice-mix showed high levels of removal of unerupted teeth (44.8%) and m ultiple extractions (10.0%), with soft-tissue lesions (5.0%), TMJ surg ery (4.7%), mandible trauma (4.6%), and simple extraction (4.4%) the n ext categories in order of percentage. Variations in service-mix were observed for patient age and sex, among referral sources, and between private and public practice.