Doble Graduación en Cirugía Oral y Máxilofacial

oral and maxillofacial disease profile is treated by overlapping medical and surgical specialties, most of them without the high-level stomatological training of a surgeon dentist. of these specialties, oral and maxillofacial surgery (oms) is the only one that requires medical, dental and surgical training, which currently is achieved by 3 main routes. to date, the debate continues about which of them is the ideal, although in latin america the only way to become an oms specialist is the odontological. a critical review of international literature in oms journals and guidelines of international societies, focusing on the bioethical topics, clinical competences, educational, legal and social aspects were made. dual-degree is advantageous to the who practice because of the following aspects: clinical scope (oncological and reconstructive surgery), access to fellowships and scientific-professionals societies, knowledge/evidence generation, surgical prerogatives, legal support and social acknowledgement. from a bioethical perspective, single-degree specialists dealing with maxillofacial pathology may exceed their competences, due to a lack of adequate medical or dental training. the dual-degree specialist seems to be the one, from a comprehensive perspective of the patient, has the knowledge and skills to fully meet the community's rights to healthcare and contribute to specialized development. unfortunately, latin america has no dual-degree training programs and none of chilean single-degrees fullfil the iaoms guidelines. this review exposes the need to develop a dual-degree program in chile to achieve a comprehensive approach in the patient with maxillofacial pathology; consistent with the social, cultural, economic and educational reality of the country.