Hyderabad: The Telangana Medical Council (TGMC) and the Telangana Dental Council (TDC) are at loggerheads over professional issues and the nature of their specialisations. The bone of contention is that dental surgeons and oral maxillofacial surgeons (MDS) are performing hair transplant and aesthetic surgeries. While the TGMC issued a notification stating that dental surgeons cannot perform hair transplant within a day, the TDC has asserted that they are qualified to do so.

Responding to the notification issued by TGMC, the state dental council has come up with its version regarding the scope of practice of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (OMFS). It states that these dental surgeons are qualified to perform facial aesthetic procedures and hair transplants. Members from the dental council cite the amendments made by the Dental Council of India (DCI) to the Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) Course Regulations (3rd Amendment). The amendments have been published in the Gazette of India on August 26, 2019, through Notification No. DE-87(3)-2019. According to DCI regulations, oral and maxillofacial surgeons are trained to perform a wide range of procedures, including minor oral surgeries; surgical management of soft tissue injuries, fractures, gunshot wounds, war injuries, and cancers in the head and neck region, craniofacial surgery, surgical correction of aesthetic defects in jaws and face, skin graft harvesting, bone graft harvesting from hip, ribs, skull and lower leg, among several such specialisations. They recalled that during the Covid-19 pandemic, maxillofacial surgeons played a crucial role in removing black fungus (Mucormycosis) infections, setting right neurological problems in the maxillofacial region and laser surgery for lesions and cryosurgery.

The TDC has also mentioned that they were medically qualified to perform aesthetic facial surgery, including for facial skin, underlying facial muscles, bone, eyelids, external ear, acne scars, facelifts, blepharoplasty, otoplasty and facial bone recontouring. “The Telangana Dental Council advises the public not to be misled by statements from any other organisations, councils or bodies regarding this matter, other than those from the Dental Council of India or the respective state dental councils,” it said in a clarification issued on Sunday.Meanwhile, TGMC has stuck to its guns while contending that dentists, dental surgeons, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons do not possess the required qualifications to perform aesthetic procedures and hair transplants. It maintained that they do not have these specialities as a core topic in their curriculum, indicating a lack of formal surgical knowledge and training to go about these procedures. Caught in this professional wrangle that smacks of a battle for one-upmanship are the people, who are unsure of which Council’s contentions are right, medically speaking.