The Benefits of Volunteering as an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Educator

A faculty shortage crisis exists in oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) education affecting dental students, OMS residents, and OMS full-time faculty. This report was designed to help nonacademic OMS practitioners better understand the problem and appreciate the potential benefits of volunteering as a part-time faculty member. Volunteer part-time faculty can help bolster the efforts of the faculty leaders (full-time and part-time) by taking on some of the dental student and/or resident educational responsibilities. They can also help free up some of the full-time faculty members' time to allow them to complete the scholarly activities required of full-time academicians. Volunteer part-time faculty can greatly benefit from their involvement in dental education. Exposure to faculty leaders and dental students and residents can be educationally enriching and stimulating for volunteer part-time faculty. Students and residents will benefit from learning the differing approaches to patient management that volunteer part-time faculty can provide. In addition, volunteer part-time faculty can have a scope of practice or practice emphasis that differs from and complements that of the faculty leaders. Finally, residents can also benefit from exposure to private practice management strategies that volunteer part-time faculty share. The present report explores how all parties can benefit from OMS faculty volunteerism.