Introduction: Maxillofacial surgery is one of the most rapidly expanding specialities in India. There is however a very poor understanding of the scope of the speciality. This paper attempts to find out the awareness of the speciality in India.
Materials and methods: A questionnaire was given to 50 medical, dental undergraduate students, 50 medical and dental practitioners, and 50 lay persons giving us a total of 250 responses. 10 common anomalies were chosen and they were asked to choose the most appropriate speciality which they would ask to treat the problem.
Results: While trauma and facial deformity correction were recognised to be mainly treated by maxillofacial surgeons, the other maxillofacial problems were poorly recognised to be treated by our speciality.
Conclusion: This study highlights the need to promote our speciality among the dentists, doctors and general public. and if need be even change the name of our speciality from oral and maxillofacial surgery to a more simple but more easily understood facial surgery.
Keywords: Awareness; Dental and medical doctors; Facial surgery in India; General public; Oral and maxillofacial surgery.