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Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Training Pathway

How to become an oral & maxillofacial surgeon in Australia — the RACDS pathway (FRACDS(OMS), not the FRACS) that requires BOTH a medical and a dental degree, a year of general surgery, and the four-year program on top.

The bottleneck is the dual degree, not the four-year program. To apply you need a medical AND a dental degree, both fully registered, plus 12 months of surgical/acute-care terms — which means going back to complete whichever degree you didn't start with, years of extra study. Once eligible, RACDS runs a single national selection for a handful of posts a year.

Why oral & maxillofacial surgery

OMS spans the whole face and jaws: dentoalveolar surgery (wisdom teeth, implants, exposures), orthognathic (corrective jaw) surgery, facial trauma (mandible, midface and orbital fractures), TMJ surgery, oral pathology and the resection/reconstruction of head and neck cancer, plus cleft and craniofacial work and facial deformity. The case mix is unusually broad — from a quick day-surgery list of third molars under sedation, to a multi-hour free-flap reconstruction with the head and neck team. Many consultants run a substantial private dentoalveolar and implant practice alongside public trauma and reconstructive work, which is part of why earnings can be high.

✓ Draws

Enormous procedural variety — minor oral surgery through to major head and neck reconstruction
Strong private-practice earning potential via dentoalveolar/implant work alongside hospital practice
A short (4-year) college program once you finally meet the dual-degree eligibility
Small, tight specialty — you will know almost everyone in it nationally
Clear published selection rubric (CV / referees / interview), which is rarer than you'd think in Australian surgical training

⚖ Trade-offs

Two full degrees required — the longest and most expensive entry barrier of any surgical field here
Tiny national intake (roughly 10–19 accredited OMS1 posts a year for all of Australia and NZ)
Genuine facial-trauma on-call, often out of hours and frequently alcohol- and assault-related
Years are spent as an unaccredited/house-officer registrar building a CV before you're even competitive
It sits across two professions and two regulators (Dental Board and Medical Board), which can be administratively messy

Subspecialties

Head and neck oncology (resection and microvascular reconstruction)Cranio-maxillofacial and orthognathic (corrective jaw) surgeryFacial traumaDentoalveolar surgery and dental implantologyTemporomandibular joint (TMJ) surgeryCleft and craniofacial surgeryOral medicine and pathology

The training pathway

The same fellowship, two very different timelines. The fast route assumes everything goes right; most people land on the realistic one.

Fastest route

About 13 years from school-leaver, or ~8–9 years if you already hold one of the two degrees

Structural floor assuming you move straight through, get the second degree efficiently, and are selected onto the RACDS program on an early attempt. Almost nobody is this clean.

First degree (medicine or dentistry)

4–5

Out of scope here — assumed already done or in progress. Most do graduate-entry.

Internship / early postgraduate years for the first degree

1–2

Full unconditional registration in that profession.

Second degree (the other of medicine/dentistry)

3–5

Graduate-entry; the unavoidable extra qualification. Tuition is largely full-fee.

Surgery in General (PGY2+ surgical/acute-care)

12 months of PGY2+ surgical/acute-care rotations, with a minimum of 9 months in related surgical disciplines, to meet RACDS eligibility.

RACDS national selection

Single annual application; CV 20% / referee reports 35% / MMI in Sydney 45%.

RACDS OMS program (OMS1–OMS4)

Foundation Examination in OMS1 (required to progress to OMS3); Fellowship Examination in advanced training.

Realistic route

15–17+ years from school-leaver; the ANZAOMS training-pathways infographic puts the minimum total training at '16+ years'

What it actually takes once you account for working between degrees, multiple years as an unaccredited/house-officer registrar building a competitive CV, and re-applying to selection.

First degree + early postgraduate years

5–7

Get registered, then usually work to fund and qualify for the second degree.

Second degree (medicine or dentistry, graduate-entry)

3–5

Often done while working part-time; full-fee tuition is a real financial barrier.

Surgery in General + unaccredited/house-officer OMS years

2–4

12 months SIG (min 9 months in related surgical disciplines) is the floor, but most do additional unaccredited registrar/house-dentist time to be competitive. Note no single OMS rotation counts beyond 6 months within a PGY2+ year for eligibility.

RACDS selection (often more than one cycle)

0–2

Tiny number of posts; strong applicants are commonly not selected first time.

RACDS OMS program (OMS1–OMS4)

Pass the Foundation Exam (taken in OMS1) to reach OMS3/advanced training; Fellowship Exam (written + clinical) in advanced training for FRACDS(OMS).

How competitive is it?

The competition is unusual. The raw number of accredited posts is tiny — RACDS OMS1 intakes in recent years have run roughly 10 to 12, with a one-off high of 19 in 2022 — but the pool of people who hold BOTH a medical and a dental degree and have done a surgical year is correspondingly small, so it is self-selecting. RACDS does not publish a national applicant-to-offer ratio, so a precise success rate is not published. Workforce signals point to a small, stable specialty: the most recent detailed NHWDS snapshot (NSW, 2015 data) recorded just 25 OMS surgeons in NSW, and NSW Health's modelling rated the field as having 'adequate career opportunities' with no additional fellows required to 2030. There is no current, nationally-published OMS-specific headcount; in 2023 the AIHW reported that orthodontists were the largest dental-specialist group at 572 (~34% of all dental specialists, implying roughly 1,680 specialists in total across the 13 dental specialties) but did not break out OMS.

Unaccredited time: Effectively yes — not a formal 'unaccredited SET' tier as in RACS specialties, but in practice almost all successful applicants do one or more years as an unaccredited OMS registrar or hospital house-dentist (on top of the mandatory 12 months Surgery in General) to build a competitive CV and secure the referee reports that carry 35% of the selection score.

Sources: RACDS — Become an OMS Specialist (eligibility, selection weightings, positions), RACDS — OMS Trainee Selection Guide & Selection Policy (rubric, eligibility, positions), NSW Health — Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery workforce factsheet (NHWDS 2015 data; 2030 modelling), AIHW — Oral health and dental care in Australia: dental workforce (2023).

Selection criteria & how to apply

Unlike most RACP and RACS pathways, OMS selection runs through a single national RACDS process each year and DOES publish a points rubric. You must first clear the hard eligibility gates: citizenship or permanent residency of Australia or New Zealand; a dental degree with full unconditional registration; a medical degree with full unconditional registration; and 12 months of PGY2+ rotations related to surgery or acute care (Surgery in General), with a minimum of 9 months in related surgical disciplines and no single OMS rotation counting beyond 6 months within a PGY2+ year. Eligible applicants are then scored on three weighted components. For the 2027 intake, applications ran 31 March – 30 April 2026, with face-to-face MMIs held in Sydney on 25 July 2026 and offers from the week commencing 27 July.

Eligibility — dual degree + Surgery in GeneralEligibility (pass/fail)

Citizenship/PR, a medical degree and a dental degree (both with full unconditional AHPRA/NZ registration), plus 12 months PGY2+ surgical/acute-care rotations (min 9 months in related surgical disciplines, max 6 months OMS). This is the real gate; you cannot be scored until you clear it.

Structured curriculum vitae20%

Scored CV covering qualifications, surgical experience, courses, research and other achievements. Applicants must reach a minimum combined threshold on CV + referee reports to progress to interview.

Professional Performance Appraisal (referee reports)35%

Structured referee reports from supervisors — the single heaviest non-interview component, which is why time as a house-dentist/unaccredited OMS registrar under known supervisors matters so much.

Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)45%

Face-to-face structured MMI, held centrally in Sydney. The largest single component of the score.

Key documents: RACDS — Become an OMS Specialist (eligibility + selection weightings), RACDS — OMS Training Program overview (Foundation & Fellowship exams), RACDS — Accredited Training in OMS Handbook, RACDS — OMS Training Setting Accreditation (accredited hospitals & posts).

How it works in each state and territory

Here is the crucial difference from RACS and RACP specialties: OMS selection is NOT run by states or via state computer matches (there is no PMCV/HETI OMS match). Selection is national, through RACDS, with one application and a central MMI in Sydney. What the states actually provide is (a) the prerequisite jobs — unaccredited OMS registrar and hospital house-dentist posts where you build experience and references — and (b) the accredited training posts, which RACDS accredits within named hospitals and oral-health centres, each with a Head of Department, Supervisor and Director of Training. So in each jurisdiction below, 'portal' means where you find the prerequisite/registrar jobs and the host hospitals, not a separate selection scheme.

NSW Per-state accredited-post counts are not separately published — selection and post allocation are national through RACDS.

Who runs selection: Largest OMS footprint nationally. RACDS-accredited training posts sit at Westmead, Prince of Wales, Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, Nepean and John Hunter (Newcastle), with the Canberra unit covering the ACT (the NHWDS snapshot, 2015 data, recorded 25 OMS surgeons in NSW, ~18 metropolitan and ~7 non-metropolitan). Prerequisite house-dentist and unaccredited OMS registrar jobs are advertised through the NSW Health JMO system and individual local health districts.

Where to apply: NSW Health JMO recruitment (prerequisite/registrar jobs) — application portal.

Positions: Per-state accredited-post counts are not separately published — selection and post allocation are national through RACDS.

Worth knowing: Note the NSW workforce factsheet (March 2019) still describes OMS training as RACS-delivered; that is out of date — the training college is RACDS. NSW modelling rated OMS as 'adequate career opportunities' with no additional fellows needed to 2030.

Links: NSW Health — Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery workforce factsheet, NSW Health — JMO recruitment campaign dates.

VIC Not separately published — accredited posts are allocated through the national RACDS process, not a Victorian match.

Who runs selection: Several RACDS-accredited OMS posts across the major Melbourne networks — the Royal Melbourne Hospital (which describes its unit as the largest and most comprehensive in Victoria), Austin Health, St Vincent's, University Hospital Geelong, Western Health, the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne and Monash Health (Dandenong). Prerequisite unaccredited OMS registrar roles are advertised on the Victorian government careers site.

Where to apply: Careers.vic / health service recruitment (prerequisite registrar jobs) — application portal.

Positions: Not separately published — accredited posts are allocated through the national RACDS process, not a Victorian match.

Worth knowing: There is NO PMCV OMS computer match (unlike physician/some surgical streams). PMCV is irrelevant to OMS selection; the Victorian role is supplying the unaccredited registrar jobs that build your application.

Links: Careers.vic — search OMS / oral & maxillofacial registrar listings, Royal Melbourne Hospital — Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.

QLD Not separately published; total intake is set nationally by RACDS, not by a Queensland scheme.

Who runs selection: RACDS-accredited posts at the major Brisbane teaching hospitals (Royal Brisbane and Women's, Princess Alexandra, Queensland Children's, Mater, Logan, Ipswich) plus a regional footprint (Gold Coast University, Toowoomba and Townsville University); the Northern Queensland Regional Training Hub (NQRTH) maps the OMS pathway across Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and the North West. Queensland Health advertises prerequisite and unaccredited OMS registrar jobs (e.g. Townsville University Hospital).

Where to apply: Queensland Health careers — OMS (medi-nav) — application portal.

Positions: Not separately published; total intake is set nationally by RACDS, not by a Queensland scheme.

Worth knowing: Strong regional/rural training narrative via NQRTH and James Cook University, useful for building rural-relevant experience and references. The QLD Health medi-nav page sets out the FRACDS(OMS) requirements clearly (dual degree + 12 months SIG, min 9 months related surgical disciplines).

Links: Queensland Health — Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery careers (medi-nav), NQRTH — Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery pathway.

SA Not separately published; accredited posts allocated nationally by RACDS. Two 12-month house-dentist posts are advertised by the RAH/University of Adelaide unit (the 2026 round closed 30 May 2026, ACST).

Who runs selection: The Royal Adelaide Hospital OMS unit — part of SA Dental and the University of Adelaide — is the principal South Australian training site and a long-standing RACDS-accredited centre (alongside the Adelaide Dental Hospital). It offers 12-month house-dentist posts (open to those with a registered dental degree) that are a recognised stepping-stone toward the Adelaide medical degree and OMS selection.

Where to apply: SA Health / RAH OMS unit & University of Adelaide house-dentist posts — application portal.

Positions: Not separately published; accredited posts allocated nationally by RACDS. Two 12-month house-dentist posts are advertised by the RAH/University of Adelaide unit (the 2026 round closed 30 May 2026, ACST).

Worth knowing: Adelaide is a notable academic hub for OMS in Australia — a common place to do the dental degree and early supervised OMS time before bridging into medicine.

Links: Royal Adelaide Hospital — Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Adelaide — Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (house-dentist / lateral-entry guide).

WA Not separately published — accredited posts are allocated through national RACDS selection, not a WA-run scheme.

Who runs selection: RACDS-accredited OMS posts are concentrated in the major Perth tertiary hospitals — Fiona Stanley, Royal Perth and Perth Children's — together with the Oral Health Centre of Western Australia. Prerequisite and unaccredited registrar jobs are advertised through WA Health recruitment.

Where to apply: WA Health — MedJobsWA — application portal.

Positions: Not separately published — accredited posts are allocated through national RACDS selection, not a WA-run scheme.

Worth knowing: Smaller jurisdiction; OMS registrar opportunities are limited and competitive, so many WA candidates build experience interstate as well.

Links: MedJobsWA — WA Health medical recruitment, RACDS — OMS Training Setting Accreditation (host hospitals).

TAS Not published; no separate Tasmanian OMS selection — entry is via the national RACDS process.

Who runs selection: No standalone accredited OMS training programme of scale; the Royal Hobart Hospital appears on the RACDS accreditation list, but Tasmanian junior doctors and dentists typically gain OMS experience there and then build the rest of their application interstate. Jobs are advertised via Tasmanian Health Service recruitment.

Where to apply: Tasmanian Health Service / Department of Health recruitment — application portal.

Positions: Not published; no separate Tasmanian OMS selection — entry is via the national RACDS process.

Worth knowing: Expect to spend significant time interstate to assemble a competitive OMS application; the dual-degree requirement also usually means studying outside Tasmania for at least one degree.

Links: Tasmanian Department of Health — careers, RACDS — Become an OMS Specialist.

ACT Not published; selection is national via RACDS, not ACT-run.

Who runs selection: Canberra Hospital provides OMS services and is a RACDS-accredited training site within the NSW/ACT grouping, though the ACT is not a large standalone OMS base. Prerequisite jobs are advertised through ACT Health / Canberra Health Services recruitment.

Where to apply: Canberra Health Services recruitment — application portal.

Positions: Not published; selection is national via RACDS, not ACT-run.

Worth knowing: Small jurisdiction — most ACT-based aspirants also rotate to larger NSW units to build experience and references.

Links: Canberra Health Services — careers, RACDS — OMS Training Program.

NT Not published; entry is through the national RACDS selection, not an NT scheme.

Who runs selection: OMS services are based at Royal Darwin Hospital, with a strong trauma and Indigenous-health caseload, but the NT is not a RACDS-accredited training centre. Prerequisite/registrar jobs are advertised through NT Health recruitment.

Where to apply: NT Health recruitment — application portal.

Positions: Not published; entry is through the national RACDS selection, not an NT scheme.

Worth knowing: High-acuity facial-trauma exposure is a genuine draw, but the dual-degree and accredited-post requirements mean almost all training time is spent interstate.

Links: NT Health — careers, RACDS — OMS Training Setting Accreditation.

How to optimise your application

The honest read: Because the program is short and the rubric is published, the leverage is almost entirely upstream: how efficiently you get the dual qualification and the surgical year, and how strong your references and interview are when you finally apply. You cannot out-publish your way past a missing degree, and the heaviest scored components reward sustained, supervised OMS clinical time over isolated CV points.

Sequence the two degrees deliberately (tied to Eligibility (pass/fail), start Before committing to the second degree) — Decide medical-first vs dental-first based on what you already hold and graduate-entry options, and budget for largely full-fee tuition. This single decision drives your whole timeline.
Lock in 12 months of Surgery in General early (tied to Eligibility (pass/fail), start PGY2 once both degrees are essentially in hand) — Secure PGY2+ surgical/acute-care rotations that satisfy RACDS — a minimum of 9 months in related surgical disciplines, with no single OMS rotation counting past 6 months within a PGY2+ year for eligibility.
Do supervised OMS time under known surgeons (tied to Professional Performance Appraisal (35%), start As soon as you can land a house-dentist/unaccredited OMS registrar post) — Referee reports are 35% of the score — sustained, well-regarded clinical performance under OMS consultants is the highest-yield investment you can make.
Prepare deliberately for the MMI (tied to Multiple Mini Interviews (45%), start 6–12 months before the July interview) — The MMI is the largest single component and is held centrally in Sydney; structured practice across clinical, ethical and communication stations is worth more than another CV line.
Target RACDS-accredited training hospitals (tied to Curriculum vitae (20%) + references, start When choosing where to work pre-selection) — Working within or alongside a RACDS-accredited OMS unit puts you under supervisors who write the references and assessors who know the program.

Key documents & official links

FAQ

Do I really need both a medical and a dental degree?

Yes — it is non-negotiable. To apply to the RACDS OMS program you must hold a dental degree AND a medical degree, each with full unconditional registration, plus 12 months of PGY2+ surgical/acute-care rotations (Surgery in General, with a minimum of 9 months in related surgical disciplines). This dual-degree requirement is the single biggest barrier and the main reason the realistic timeline runs past 15 years. You can start with either degree, but you will have to complete the other as a graduate.

Is OMS a RACS specialty? Do I get the FRACS?

No. Oral & maxillofacial surgery is not one of RACS's SET specialties and you do not get the FRACS. The training college is the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons (RACDS) and the qualification is the FRACDS(OMS). ANZAOMS is the professional society, not the training body. (Some older state-health documents — including the NSW workforce factsheet — wrongly attribute OMS training to RACS; that is out of date.)

How long is the actual training program?

The RACDS OMS program itself is four years (OMS1–OMS4), with the Foundation Examination taken in OMS1 (you must pass it to progress to OMS3/advanced training) and the Fellowship Examination (a two-day written plus a two-day clinical) in advanced training. The program is short; it's the dual degree and the surgical year beforehand that make the overall path so long — the ANZAOMS training-pathways infographic states a minimum total training of '16+ years' from a standing start.

How competitive is it to get on?

Very, but in an unusual way. The number of accredited posts is tiny — RACDS OMS1 intakes have run roughly 10 to 12 a year, with a one-off high of 19 in 2022, across all of Australia and New Zealand — but the eligible pool (people with both degrees plus a surgical year) is small and self-selecting. RACDS does not publish a national applicant-to-offer ratio, so a precise success rate isn't published.

Is there a points system for selection?

Yes — and unlike most RACP/RACS pathways it's published. After you clear the eligibility gates, you're scored on a structured CV (20%), Professional Performance Appraisal referee reports (35%) and a Multiple Mini Interview held in Sydney (45%). The heavy referee and interview weighting is why sustained, well-regarded supervised OMS time matters more than isolated CV lines.

What do oral & maxillofacial surgeons earn in Australia?

There is no dedicated ATO occupation code for oral & maxillofacial surgeons. In the occupation classification they are coded as a Dental Specialist (ANZSCO 252311) on the dental register and within the broad Surgeons group (ANZSCO 2535 / 253511 Surgeon (General)) on the medical register — they hold both a dental and a medical specialist registration. So any published ATO 'average' is a blended taxable-income proxy across those broad categories, not an OMS-specific salary. In practice earnings are typically high, driven by a private dentoalveolar/implant practice alongside public reconstructive and trauma work, but treat any single 'average' number with caution because of the blended coding.

How many oral & maxillofacial surgeons are there in Australia?

No current national OMS-specific headcount is published. The most detailed recent NHWDS snapshot (NSW, 2015 data) recorded 25 in NSW. In 2023 the AIHW reported orthodontists as the largest of the 13 dental specialties at 572 (~34% of all dental specialists, implying roughly 1,680 dental specialists in total) but did not break out OMS. It is one of the smallest surgical workforces in the country.

What's the lifestyle and on-call like?

Mixed. There's genuine facial-trauma on-call — often out of hours and frequently linked to assaults and alcohol — which can be demanding. Against that, a large share of OMS work (dentoalveolar, implants, elective orthognathic) is plannable day-surgery or office-based, and many consultants build a substantial private practice. The NSW workforce data put average hours around 49–50 per week.

Trained overseas? (IMG pathway)

How overseas-trained oral & maxillofacial surgery doctors get recognised

OMS is certified by the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons (RACDS), not RACS. After you hold both a medical and a dental degree plus 12 months of Surgery in General, you apply through a single national RACDS selection. The four-year program (OMS1–OMS4) is bookended by the Foundation Examination in OMS1 (required to progress to OMS3) and the Fellowship Examination in advanced training, leading to FRACDS(OMS) and specialist registration with the Dental Board (and recognition by the Medical Board).

See the RACDS — Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery program and our IMG internship guide.

General Surgery RACS / GSA Otolaryngology (ENT) RACS / ASOHNS Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery RACS / ASPS Neurosurgery RACS / NSA

Last reviewed 2026-06-01.