About the unit
The OMFS unit within this hospital consists of a team of highly skilled surgeons working alongside orthodontic, oral surgery, and restorative colleagues. The department is situated near the South entrance at James Cook. The department has its own dental laboratory providing support for the orthodontic, restorative and maxillofacial services. The laboratory has a number of qualified technicians and assistants and is also equipped with a 3D scanner and printer.
The Consultant Team
Mr Chris Bridle
- Maxilliofacial trauma, dentoalveolar surgery, TMJ
- Medical education, human factors and patient safety
- Clinical Director
- Training Programme Director for DCTs
Col Douglas Bryant
- Head and neck oncology
- Base of skull and facial reanimation
Mr Konstantinos Mitsimponas
- Head and neck oncology and reconstruction
Mrs Lee Mercer
The department also has two full time speciality trainees in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, an Associate Specialist Oral Surgeon and several full time and part time specialty doctors. These clinicians provide much of the dentoalveolar service and second on call support for DCTs.
There is a wide scope of practice with plenty of opportunity for trainees to gain experience in all areas. All trainees perform activites in outpatient clinics, minor oral surgery lists, theatres, the ward and the Emergency Department. Each trainee has an allocated educational supervisor with an emphasis being made on supervised training. Each of our trainees will have the opportunity to take part in a quality improvement project and present their work at the regional audit meeting.
Regional Major Trauma Centre
The James Cook university hospital is the Major Trauma Centre (MTC) for the South Durham, East Cleveland, Tees Valley and North Yorkshire areas.
MTCs are specialist hospitals that are able to deal with injuries to all parts of the body and James Cook receive both adults and children with significant injuries.
The hospital forms the hub of the regional Major Trauma Network. The network is made up of smaller trauma units including North Tees and Darlington hospitals.
