OMFS Training

Red, Amber, Green (RAG) Rating of OMFS Training in Europe

The European OMFS Trainee Forum created quality indicators for OMFS training in Europe using a Delphi process. The results were published in the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and are currently 'open access'.

Using the tables in this paper as templates, trainers who were delegates to the OMFS Section of UEMS were asked to rank their nation's training. The resulting tables of data are linked below as PDFs

Table1 National framework of OMFS had 8 domains with an additional 2 for dual-degree OMFS nations
Table 2 Training programme/ rotation has 11 domains
Table3 Teaching/education programmes has 6 domains
Table4 Training placements/unit/timetable has 9 domains
Table5 Records of Training Progression/Logbooks has 4 domains
Table6 External assessment of the training has 6 domains.

Trainers and trainees are encouraged to review these tables and consider how to improved OMFS training in their nation, their programme and their unit.

The European Association of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgeons (EACMFS)

The European Association of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgeons is the regional scientific society for the specialty. It website has a range of resources and EACMFS membership offer members and especially trainees a range of excellent benefits.

EACMFS also has a guideline for training on its website, included here as a PDF

OMFS European Training Requirements (ETR) - Approved Oct 2021

OMFS European Training Requirement (ETR) - now approved as of 23 October 2021

This important document has now been approved by the UEMS Advisory Board and UEMS Council. It therefore becomes an official document and is available for anyone to download from the UEMS website. As with all ETRs, this is a living document. The preparation for the next edition starts now. If you have ideas on how to approve it, please contact us using the contact form.

This is a link to our ETR as a PDF - 2021 OMFS European Training Requirement (ETR)
OMFS ETR is also available as a searchable webpage by
1) clicking the OMFS training option above and selected OMFS European Training Requirement
2) using this link.

Background to European Training Requirements
Back in 1994, the UEMS adopted its "Charter on Training of Medical Specialists" with an aim to outline the guiding principles for high level Medical Training.

Made up of six chapters, this Charter set the basis for the European approach in the field of Post Graduate Training. With five chapters being common to all specialties, this Charter provided a sixth chapter, known as “Chapter 6”, that each Specialist Section was to complete according to the specific needs of their discipline.

For the sake of transparency and coherence, the "Chapter 6" has been renamed as “Training Requirements for the Specialty of X”. This document aims to provide the basic Training Requirements for each specialty and should be regularly updated by UEMS Specialist Sections and European Boards to reflect scientific and medical progress.

2003 European Guidelines for training in OMFS
In 2003, two years before the Directive which defines mutual recognition in the EEA 2005/36 EU, the OMFS Section and Board of UEMS created and shared 2003 European Guidelines for Training in OMFS. These were also published in Rev. Stomatol. Chir. Maxillofac. 104, 186–189 (2003). W.K.Busch, Brussels, 10.03.02

OMFS Reference Book
This was the 2011 version our 'Chapter 6' - which defined our specialty within Europe. We are grateful to our predecessors who created this document which has provided the firm foundations on which our current ETR is built.

2011 OMFS Reference Book

Summary of OMFS Training in Europe

Country	Dual/Single Degree	Written Curriculum Blue=link	Quality Indicators	Minimum 1^st operator numbers (OMFS, OS)	Exit Exam	Min. Training OMFS Yrs
Austria	Dual	Yes	No	Yes (350 OMFS, 200 OS)	Yes	4
Belgium	Dual	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	4
Bulgaria	Dual	DOMFS MF				4
Croatia	Single
Cyprus	Dual
Czech Rep	Dual	Yes	Yes	‘Lower than UK’	Yes	5
Denmark	Dental only	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	5
Estonia	Dental/medical Not Annex V	Yes	No	Yes (350 OMFS, 200 OS)	Yes	5
Finland	Single	Yes	No	Yes (350 OS)	Yes	6
France	Single	Yes	Yes	Yes, but not applied	Yes	6
Germany	Dual	Curriculum Dokumentation Facharzt	No	Yes (335 OMFS, 200 OS)	Yes	5 + 2 years plastic and aesthetic operations
Greece	Dual	Yes	Yes	Yes (280 OMFS / 250 OS)	Yes	5
Hungary	Single Medical/ Dual	Yes	No	Yes (250 OMFS, 200 OS)	Yes	6
Ireland	Dual	Yes	No	Yes (550 OMFS, 500 OS)	Yes	5
Italy	Single	No	No	Yes (130 OMFS, 0 OS)	Yes	5
Latvia	Dual					6
Lithuania	Single	Yes	Yes	Similar to UK	Yes	5
Luxembourg	Dual
Malta	Dual
Netherlands	Dual (D)	OMFS Oncology Services	Yes	Yes (280 OMFS, 500 OS)	No	4
Poland	Single/Dual	Yes MF - medics MF- dentist MF - dentist L2 MF - oral surg.	Yes	Yes (170 OMFS, 80 OS)	Yes	6
Portugal	Single	Yes	No	Yes (400 OMFS)	Yes	6
Romania	Dual	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	5
Slovakia	Single
Slovenia	Dual	No	No	Yes (138 OMFS , 310 OS)	Yes	7
Spain	Single	Yes	No	None	No	5
Sweden	Single/Dual	Yes	Yes	300 OMFS	Yes	4
UK	Dual	Yes	Yes	Yes (550 OMFS, 500 OS)	Yes	5
Norway	Single MF in Treaty	Norwegian English	Yes	Yes (300 OMFS, 110 OS)	No	4
Switzerland	Dual	Yes	Yes	Yes (365 OMFS)	Yes	5

Where single is in bold it means that the regulations say it is a single degree country but the specialty is moving towards dual degree DOMFS.

European Board Examination (EBOMFS)

The EBOMFS RQ (Recognition of Qualification) Assessment has been organized twelve times during the last 22 years, every time coinciding with Congress of EACMFS.

Altogether more than 600 candidates from 16 countries have taken part in the EBOMFS Assessments during the period of 1996–2018: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

The pass rate has been 90%.

Visit EBOMFS

OMFS Section of UEMS: In-Training Formative Assessment (OSUITA)

The OMFS Section of UEMS, with support from the European Association of Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgeon (EACMFS), provides an online formative assessment aimed at someone preparing for a 'high-stakes' exam or who just want to test their knowledge.

Formative assessments are "for training" rather than "of training". The questions are provided by the OMFS Section of UEMS (and participating trainees). There are 12 papers available, with a new paper being added every 6 months (if enough questions are submitted).

Details of the most recent opportunities to both complete and contribute to the assessments are available from this link OMFS Section of UEMS In-Training Assessment (OSUITA) - don't worry about the year on the instructions being '2023' - the instructions remain the same.

All the 'In-Training-Assessments' have the same entry code of OMFSuems and are accesslble at https://omfsexam.examfolio.com/ - you just need to register your preferred e-mail address, add some personal information and your own password.

Why not register today and give one a go! From time to time the In-Training-Assessments are taken off line to allow users to review their answers against the 'right answers'. This usually happens a few weeks before a 'high-stakes' exam like the UK's FRCS (OMFS) Part 1.

Finally, if you are interested in adding questions, please use the contact form to send your details.

For 3 years Medartis have sponsored this excellent resource for OMFS trainees. They continue their support through EACMFS.

European Pre-Specialist Assessment 2025

The aim of this assessment is to help OMFS trainees discover their 'unknown unknowns'. The 50 questions includes 5 questions from the MCQ element of the European Board exam in OMFS (EBOMFS).

There will be three opportunities to complete this assessment

Thursday, 4^th September 2025, 8 pm – 9.30 pm Central European Time (aimed at EUROPE)
Saturday, 6^th September 2025, 6 pm – 7.30 pm Central European Time (aimed at AMERICA)
Sunday, 7^th September 2025, 10 am – 11.30 am Central European Time (aimed at ASIA/OCEANIA)

Registration for 2025 Assessment
Those who registered in 2022, 2023 or 2024 or have used the other in-training assessments just need to log-in to the exam website and click whichever of the 2025 exams that they wish to complete. New users first need to register their details on the same link and then register for the exam. A password will be sent prior to the exam.

Instructions for the 2025 Assessment are available on registration. Generic instructions can be downloaded from here.

Report of the 2024 Pre-Specialist Assessment can be downloaded from here
The 2024 questions were accessible immediately after the exam. They will also be available to those who have completed the assessment in the run-up to the 2025 sitting (when all the other in-training assessments are temporarily closed). The news item about this sitting is here.

Report of the 2023 Pre-Specialist Assessment can be downloaded from here
The 2023 questions were accessible immediately after the exam. They will also be available to those who have completed the assessment in the run-up to the 2025 sitting (when all the other in-training assessments are temporarily closed). The news item about this sitting is here.

Summary of 2022 Pre-specialist assessment.
On the evening of Sept 8th 2022 trainees from all around the world participated in this formative assessment. Of the 187 who registered, 142 were able to take part. Feedback from participants was very positive. The mean score was 69% and the national results from countries who had more than a handful of candidates are summarised here.

All the 2022 questions, with the answers, can be downloaded from here.

The OMFS Section would like to that EACMFS (and their supporter Medartis) for their collaboration in running this assessment.

News of the 2024 assessment will be publicised to members of EACMFS directly.

Add Questions to the OMFS In-Training Assessment Question Bank and Earn ECMCECs

Adding Questions to the Question Bank

Writing questions is a very good way of revising. There is a generic log-in for international trainees and another one for UK based trainees. Adding questions through these generic routes is anonymous, so you can’t be awarded any CME points.

If you contact the website and ask for your own log-in, you can received 1 ECMEC® for every 5 questions you add.

https://omfs.examfolio.com is the adding questions website (it has a dot between OMFS and EXAM) whereas the assessment website does not

For UK Trainees please use
log-in ukspecialtytrainees (all lower case)
password OMFSuems (case sensitive)

For International OMFS Trainees please use
log-in omfstraineesinternational (all lower case)
password OMFSuems (case sensitive)

Please don’t change the e-mail address of these accounts!!!

General Advice for Adding Questions

What I want most are questions which point people to gaps in their knowledge and how to fill them. Not ‘tricksy’ questions, rather questions that EVERYONE should know.

Please remember

Write questions which would test trainees of any level to help people to revise the ‘right’ topics/answers.
Give a very clear title – this is used to select question for the exam
Avoid ‘negative’ questions i.e. pick the wrong answer, which is not true, choose the least likely
Focus on ‘important’ issues i.e. something that it is valuable to know rather than a ‘rare’ fact.
List the options in alphabetical order – this avoids ‘order bias’.
Include (in the comment box) a short rationale for your answer with a link to a free resource (open access paper or website). Only a sentence or two.

A good way to write four questions for the effort of 1 is to write four questions stems for the same 4 answers – if you do this write 1 of 4 and 2 of 4 etc in the title.

Why limit yourself to 5 questions!!! Register for your own account.

You can have as much CME as you want – fill your boots.

European OMFS Training Experience Register - a free download

European OMFS Surgical Experience Register

The OMFS Section has created this Microsoft Access© file to allow trainees and trainers to record their experience in a consistent way. It is free to download and share. Its format is consistent with the OMFS version of eLogbook which is free to use at www.elogbook.org (the eLogbook is the official logbook for OMFS trainees in the UK and has more functionality that our Access file).

Conditions of Use
This file is provided ‘as is’. The OMFS Section does not offer technical support or upgrades. Users are welcome to contact the designer and contract with him to update or modify for their purposes and at their expense. Contact Mr Julian Baker at https://www.theaccessman.co.uk/

Design of a registry/logbook for other surgical specialties
If your specialty is not OMFS but you are interested in having a similar resource for your specialty, please contact Mr Julian Baker at https://www.theaccessman.co.uk/

Advice about data security
This database is not password protected or encrypted. As, once used, it will contain patient identifiable information it should be stored in a secure location on encrypted and password protected storage.

European Junior Doctors - EJD

The EDJ aims to promote the interests of Junior Doctors in the member states of the Council of Europe, exchange information, develop a common approach, and formulate common views on relevant topics such as the medical workforce, postgraduate medical education and working conditions; improve and develop relations between Junior Doctors in Europe; and protect and improve standards of healthcare in Europe.

Collaboration between the EJD and the UEMS has existed for several years in the form of formal and informal agreements that have benefited both institutions and, above all, the quality of medical training of European junior doctors. The EJD send Representatives to the UEMS Boards, Sections and Multidisciplinary Joint Committees (MJC) as the input of doctors in training in the matters of postgraduate medical training is considered of paramount importance for both institutions. They EJD representative shall also be invited to be part of the PGT visiting committees of their Boards, Sections and MJC.

OMFS has a specialty representative who joins OMFS Section and Board meetings. We encourage OMFS trainees to get involved with EDJ in their nation.