Textbook of Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery in China —Special reference to education systems and clinical practice in textbooks published after World War II until the present—

Abstract

The present report reviews education systems and clinical practices of Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery in China, with special reference to the contents of Chinese textbooks. After World War II the 1st generation textbook of “Oral Surgery” by Xia Liong Cai appeared in 1959 in Beijing, and the second textbook was “Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery” by Zhang Xize and Qiu Wei-Lie, published in Shanghai in 1980 （2nd generation textbook）. This textbook was used for about 20 years in Chinese stomatology. The 3rd generation textbook “Theory and Practice of Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery”, edited by Qiu WL, was published in 1998. Another textbook “Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery”, an operation text series by Zhou Shu-Xia of the 4th Military Medical University, was published in 1996. A new Book, “Qiu WL’s Oral-Facial Surgery”, was published in 2008. It had 66 authors from Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital and consisted of 110 chapters （total 1530 pages）. This new textbook covers full-scale surgery for oral and maxillofacial diseases, including head and neck, vascular, and skull-base surgery.University hospitals in Chinese provinces have many patients and many rare cases, which will probably promote new trends in Chinese stomatology. The present paper gives an overview of recent trends in oral and maxillofacial surgery in China from the viewpoint of these textbooks.