• Alex Orchard, Sarah Ali, Kathryn French, and Mark Gormley.
• Speciality Doctor in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, UK. alex.orchard1@nhs.net.
• Br Dent J. 2020 Apr 1; 228 (7): 533-536.

AbstractBackground Following graduation, training costs for an individual trainee to achieve completion of specialist surgical training has been estimated to be between £20,000 to £71,431, and is expected to rise. Furthermore, there are other non-monetary costs to consider, including poor work-life balance and the burden of training on home life.Methods A 22-question online survey using SurveyGizmo was developed and emailed to all current UK and Ireland oral surgery trainees from 2016-2019. The survey consisted of open free text, binomial and variable scale responses related to the cost of training.Results A total of 43 (96%) oral surgery trainees responded to the survey. Sixty-eight percent had enrolled on a postgraduate degree, or other higher qualification, during their training. Of these, only 4.5% were fully funded and nearly half received no funding at all. Trainees reported vast disparities in financial support across deaneries, with an overall average study budget of £687. Annual obligatory costs of up to £4,142 and a mean average spend of £9,240 on courses and £2,830 on conferences were reported. Childcare, relocating and textbooks were listed as additional costs incurred.Conclusion A standardised, transparent and more substantial financial support system is required for dental specialty trainees.

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