Orthodontics without surgery, surgery without orthodontics

Interdisciplinary work is one of the most enriching sources of generation of knowledge and experience that we possess in a university, especially when it comes to two fields of knowledge as contrasting but at the same time so dependent on their daily business, as orthodontics and surgery; two specialties of dentistry, which have been related in the UNAM since its creation due to the relationship between the two areas regarding the solution of dentofacial problems.

We are talking about a complex task, since the attention of the patients that require our service may be granted in both specialties through different approaches and results for the same condition. Health attention for a patient sometimes may have conflicting solutions in orthodontics and surgery; and contrary to what looks like a conflict, this situation constitutes an extremely valuable opportunity for education and generation of learning experiences that are the primary objective of an educational institution, the mere academic exercise to confront two ways of thinking and two different fields of knowledge in a same problem, in this case the health of the patient, constitute the possibility of creating different solutions from different positions.

The work of both specialties in our institution has developed by seeking in the health attention of our patients, analysis, discussion, synthesis and conclusions on cases of complex handling; such is the case of malocclusions and dentofacial disharmonies, which are the field where both specialities converge. In this kind of afflictions, interdisciplinary management is of paramount importance to the teaching of orthodontics and surgery, but it is also important for the correct solution of health problems for the population who needs it.

Unfortunately it is common to find in some UNAM clinics and in the exercise of our profession, patients who have been treated by both specialities «exclusively» and I mention it precisely so, since it would seem that the area of knowledge and work belonged to a single specialty, which causes that the results are demonstrably limited in the best of cases or definitively poor, when seeking to correct complex cases with resources limited to just one of the specialties, surgery without orthodontics, orthodontics without surgery.

Nothing more contrary to the university spirit and to what is intended in a university, than to make own and exclusive what is universal. The results in many cases are unfortunate due to the intention of resolving complex problems from a single point of view, the orthodontic one or the surgical one. Fortunately the closeness between both specialties in our university exists and interdisciplinary work as well. The benefit is always in both fields, but especially in the results of a joint management. Nobody possesses the absolute truth and our students should be formed with a broad approach, which involves precisely to extend it to the fields of related knowledge, this will be achieved to the extent that multidisciplinary work bears fruit in the solution of health problems as a whole.

More interdisciplinary work is needed as well as more interest in sharing spaces, knowledge, working material, with the purpose of strengthening this difficult but fruitful task of attending the patient's health, with the support and participation of others, for teaching and learning with the knowledge and contributions of related areas. The divulgation task that the Revista Mexicana de Ortodoncia fulfills offers a valuable space for the exercise of teamwork and we join this task with special interest in the idea that teaching and professional exercise may improve with every effort such as the one this publication makes.