Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery has been left in the dark: Curriculum Mapping of Health Education England's Non-Surgical Facial Aesthetic Curriculum 2016 and the ISCP curricula for Otolaryngology, Plastic Surgery and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

Introduction: Health Education England released a curriculum for non surgical facial cosmetic intervention in January 2016. Plastic surgeons and Dermatologists are exempt from part 2a of the curricula due to previous training. Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons are not. Methods: Curriculum mapping of the outcomes from the HEE 2016 Non surgical facial cosmetic intervention to that of the ISCP curricula in Plastic Surgery (2013), Otolaryngology (2015)and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (2010) was undertaken, using the Varley & Walker qualitative curriculum traffic light method. Results: The results show that the ISCP curriculum for Plastic Surgery matches the outcomes set by HEE 2016 much more closely at all training levels (ST1-ST8) than that seen in the ISCP curriculum for Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. The curriculum for OMFS states cosmetic surgery to be one of four areas of special interests, and identifies cosmetic surgery as one of these four. It is stated that there may be a syllabus for this specialist area, but it appears one does not exist. In contrast, the curriculum for Plastic Surgery has cosmetic surgery embedded within the key topics and identifies objectives, knowledge, clinical skills, and technical skills and procedures that should be met by the surgical trainee. The same curriculum has been adapted for Otolaryngology, with the number of objectives and clinical skills being condensed. Discussion: With some urgency, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery should embrace facial aesthetic practice, including non-surgical interventions, and incorporate it with in its ISCP curriculum.