Dental students' OMFS-related experiences and interest in OMFS careers: An exploration.

PURPOSE: While the numbers of oral maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) residents increased over time, women and residents from underrepresented minority backgrounds are still underrepresented. The objectives were to assess dental students' OMFS-related personal and educational experiences and attitudes and explore which factors correlate with their interest in future OMFS careers. METHODS: Data were collected from 493 dental students in 1 dental school and 206 students from 15 other US and Canadian dental schools. RESULTS: The students in the national sample were more likely to have experienced an OMFS procedure themselves (64.6% vs. 50.7%; P = 0.001), have shadowed an OMFS in an operating room (23.2% vs. 14.9%; P = 0.009) prior to coming to dental school and to be much/very much interested in an OMFS career (36.4% vs. 12%; P < 0.001) than the students at the home school. While the majority of both groups rated their experiences with rotations in the OMFS department in the dental school (68% vs. 62.5%) and in the hospital (80.3% vs. 85.7%) as very interesting, the students in the national sample were more likely to agree/strongly agree that they were satisfied with their OMFS experiences (68.1% vs. 36.3%; P < 0.001) and had learned a lot from the OMFS faculty (57.9% vs. 30.8%) than the students in the home school. For both groups, the degree of interest in an OMFS career correlated with having had more personal OMFS experiences (home: r = 0.28; P < 0.001/other: r = 0.39; P < 0.001), more interesting OMFS experiences in the dental school (r = 0.23; P < 0.05/r = 0.40; P < 0.001) and the hospital (0.33; P < 0.05/r = 0.50; P < 0.001) and more positive attitudes toward OMFS faculty (r = 0.26; P < 0.001/r = 0.37; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Positive personal and educational OMFS experiences and positive attitudes toward OMFS faculty were associated with an interest in OMFS careers. These findings provide a basis for developing educational interventions aimed at increasing the percentage of women and residents from URM backgrounds in OMFS programs.