We've mostly confined ourselves to discussions, Google searches, and Pubmed to find information for ourselves. Those are great resources but there is really a sea of information out there and it's easy to get lost or get an incomplete picture. Next I turned to textbooks to learn more about facial surgeries. Those are great resources, mostly aided by Google Books and PDFs, and they're good for understanding the plethora of procedures available with some exposure of big names but still don't help us understand who the major players are and what the latest is. Textbooks I've consulted include Peterson's Principles of Maxillofacial Surgery (best IMO), Ferraro's Fundamentals of Maxillofacial Surgery, Atlas of Operative Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Contemporary Orthodontics by Profittt. Journals are also good, specifically JOMS, Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, Atlas of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, International Journal of Oral Surgery, and American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics. Like journals in other fields, the standards for publications in these journals are very high with long lag times, reserved for only the most significant works so we need to look at conferences for more visibility. For that, look to the annual meetings of AAOMS and American Society of Craniofacial Surgery. I also stumbled upon a high profile lecture, the William H Bell Lectureship.
Maybe someone wants to link this stuff in a reply and add a few links I may have missed. Other than looking at dental and medical schools and big hospitals, presenters and publishers are also good leads to finding quality surgeons and learning about what the latest and greatest is. Ultimately, we want to put our health in the hands of people who are highly competent and that means attendance at high profile conferences regularly in mandatory. People who have a passion for this field. People who have an investigative, analytic mindset. With the right angle that fits our personalities. And who can potentially buy us up to 5 years into the future of surgical technique and technology before it becomes mainstream.
