AO NORTH AMERICA NEWS

AO Maxillofacial: An Integral Part of AO North America

by John Frodel, M.D.

John Frodel and son at the Maxillofacial Faculty retreat in August 1999.

AONA Maxillofacial continues to grow, in terms of faculty membership as well as in productivity and involvement in AO North America. Under the directorship of AO Academic Council member Dr. Paul Manson, AO Maxillofacial is playing an increasingly important role in AO North America and on the international AO Foundation's Board of Trustees. The AONA Maxillofacial Trustees include Dr. Paul Manson, Dr. Brian Alpert, Dr. Randal Rudderman and Dr. John Frodel. The Trustees serve to oversee and make recommendations to the North American Maxillofacial Education Committee as well as provide input for the Maxillofacial meetings. Our role is to transfer information both from the AO Foundation and from AO North America to the AO Maxillofacial faculty membership.

The AONA Preceptorship Program continues to grow and is a great success. As a reminder, teaching programs are encouraged to apply to AO North America for financial support of AO Maxillofacial faculty visiting professorships, traveling preceptorships, and resident research project support. Information on these programs can be obtained through the AONA office or from your User's Manual.

During the 1999 AO Trustee meeting in Cancun, Mexico, a meeting of the AO North America Steering Committee was held. Dr. Eric Johnson, current President of AO North America, proposed a two-day faculty retreat sponsored by AONA to instruct faculty in how to make electronic digital presentations. There was complete support of this proposal, and the first Electronic Workshop was held in Phoenix, in February 2000. A second workshop is planned for September. Members of the AONA Maxillofacial Trustees suggested that such a program could also be incorporated as a "pre-course" into another major AO course or faculty retreat.

Dr. Johnson also reviewed the various surgical video projects that are currently underway and encouraged the Maxillofacial section to submit proposals for videotapes.

Dr. Manson simultaneously proposed that ten tapes be developed in cooperation with the dental staff at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, with the intention of creating teaching tapes which, as a minimum, would provide training in dental anatomy, occlusion, and splint construction. There was very strong support from the Steering Committee for this project, and it was approved. This is excellent news and the Maxillofacial faculty should be encouraged to consider participation in this project.

As part of the Steering Committee meeting, Dr. Manson reviewed the status of Maxillofacial research projects which had been approved for funding in 1997. The projects are proceeding slowly, perhaps in part because of the multi-institutional design of most of the studies. Included are prospective reviews of the treatment of frontal sinus fractures, the treatment of subcondylar fractures, and several other studies.

As noted elsewhere in this issue, an AONA Internet Page has been created. Plans exist for inclusion of a Maxillofacial section that will serve a variety of purposes. First of all, it will AO Foundation Elects Five New Trustees From North America provide information to AONA Maxillofacial members of ongoing activities of the Trustees, the Maxillofacial Education Committee, and the Expert Group. Our maxillofacial participation on the web site has begun with the "Case of the Quarter" section, and with the listing of all upcoming Maxillofacial Courses. We are quite excited about this concept and certainly would appreciate input from the membership on how we might maximize the use of our website.

Finally, Jim Gerry has reminded each AO North America member of the existence of the Martin Allgöwer Trauma Fellowship for the year 2001. This fellowship is available to practicing North American surgeons and pays all travel and living expenses for up to six months at a European AO Center. The membership is once again encouraged to apply through the AO North America office.

AO Maxillofacial members are encouraged to contact any of the Trustees if they have any questions or suggestions for improvement.