The SSOMFS is a professional society for oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Switzerland.

It was founded on June 8, 1973 as SSMFS (Swiss Society for Maxillo-Facial Surgery) in Basel and is an association in the sense of Art. 60ff of the Swiss Civil Code. Since 2010, the Society has officially called itself "Swiss Society for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery" (as do the specialist societies in Germany and Austria).

The purpose of the Society is to unite Swiss oral and maxillofacial surgeons for joint work on the development and progress of their specialty. It also deals with questions of professional and professional-political interest.

 

The professional society SSOMFS organizes further education in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery for its members and guests at regular intervals. The annual meeting of the SSOMFS is held at different locations each year as a specialist congress with national and international speakers and guests. Further information and the current version of the SSOMFS statutes can also be downloaded as a PDF document from these pages in the future.

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The Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

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Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a fairly young specialty that developed from experience with severe gunshot wounds to the facial skull during the two world wars of the 20th century.  At that time, surgeons and dentists realized that they needed each other's knowledge for the complex reconstructions of the facial skull and the restoration of chewing, speaking, swallowing and breathing functions of severely injured patients. Modern oral and maxillofacial surgery is a very demanding specialty that is increasingly opening up new treatment options in the head and neck region due to rapid advances in high technology (3D and 4D imaging, navigation, tissue engineering, ...).

 

For the professional qualification as a specialist in oral and maxillofacial surgery FMH, in Switzerland, as in many other European countries, the dual qualification in human and dental medicine is required. The basic surgery exam should be taken before starting further training. As a rule, the entire training to become a specialist takes about 15 years (9 years of human and dental studies, 2 years of surgery/anesthesia/intensive care, 4 years of oral and maxillofacial surgery postgraduate training).

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a predominantly surgical discipline and includes traumatology, tumor surgery, the treatment of congenital and acquired malformations of the facial skull, the therapy of jaw malpositions and temporomandibular joint disorders, infections in the jaw and facial region, aesthetic facial surgery , preprosthetic surgery and oral surgical procedures as well as implantology.

Due to the close proximity of the organ systems of the head and neck region, which are often affected in combination in the case of diseases and injuries, interdisciplinary cooperation is an essential element of our specialty and requires an integrative working method, the exercise of which demands a high level of social competence.

 

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