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| Year : 2018 | Volume
: 29
| Issue : 3 | Page : 262 |
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| “Real-World” craniofacial surgery requires “Medical Multitasking” |
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SM Balaji
Executive Editor, Indian Journal of Dental Research, Director and Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Click here for correspondence address and email
| Date of Web Publication | 13-Jun-2018 |
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How to cite this article:
Balaji S M. “Real-World” craniofacial surgery requires “Medical Multitasking”. Indian J Dent Res 2018;29:262 |
In a recent editorial of Journal Nature, an awareness to evolve strategies for better tackling multimorbidities through biomedical research was called for.[1] As surgeons, we have been consistently facing the issue of multimorbidities in our professional life. In patients aged above 40 years, we often encounter patients with more than one disease, more commonly of the noncommunicable spectrum. From our literature, we know to manage patients with diabetic, hypertension, hepatitis B virus, etc., separately – but are we aware of the treatment plan for such multimorbidities when they occur together – especially the changes needed in anesthetic procedure, dietary modifications, and pharmacological interventional challenges?
In the same issue, another pertinent issue of pain has been widely discussed.[2] In our specialty, we look pain through a biomedical spectrum rather than as a biopsychosocial condition. Common conventional clinical practice is to recommend psychosocial strategies for pain only after exhausting all medications options. Although prescription opioid addiction is not as prevalent in India,[3] the management of pain has not been viewed from biopsychosocial prism. The persistence of pain, especially in wake of multimorbidities and oral dysbiosis, has to be viewed with adequate care and often through the desired spectrum and not as a last resort.
We have made a lot of stride in understanding the embryology of head and neck, development, and physiology of healing of oral hard and soft tissues. However, we have no control over the real-world illnesses such as trauma, cancers, and infective conditions and most of nonelective procedures which might present with more than two or three morbidities. We need to evolve researches that imbibe real-life situation rather than stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria. Further, we need orofacial pain-related research with multimorbidities and pain management from biopsychosocial prism so as to provide evidence-based treatment.
 References | |  |
| 1. | Real-world illness requires medical multitasking. Nature 2018;557:5-6.  |
| 2. | Darnall B. To treat pain, study people in all their complexity. Nature 2018;557:7. [ PUBMED] |
| 3. | Rao R. The journey of opioid substitution therapy in India: Achievements and challenges. Indian J Psychiatry 2017;59:39-45. [ PUBMED] [Full text] |
Correspondence Address:
S M Balaji
Executive Editor, Indian Journal of Dental Research, Director and Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijdr.IJDR_431_18
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