Utilization of Day Surgery Unit in Oral and Maxillofacial Practice: A 6-Year Retrospective Analysis

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of the day surgery unit in oral and maxillofacial surgery by examining procedures, patient characteristics, anesthetic techniques, and their effects on productivity and resource utilization. Methods: This retrospective observational study analyzed all same-day oral and maxillofacial (OMFS) surgical cases performed at a trauma center, between January 2020 and December 2025. Data collected included patient age, gender, admission type (day surgery or inpatient), and procedure type, with ages grouped into 4 categories and procedures classified into 9 main maxillofacial surgical categories with detailed subgroups. Descriptive statistics summarized demographics and case distribution, and the association between procedure category and admission type was tested. Results: Two thousand two hundred and thirty-eight OMFS surgical cases were analyzed after excluding 14 incomplete records, with a near-equal distribution between day surgery (49.1%) and inpatient admissions (50.9%). Patients were predominantly male (55.1%) and aged 18 to 40 years (68.3%). The surgical category was strongly associated with admission type ( P < .001). Dentoalveolar procedures were the most common (42.6%) and largely performed same-day surgery (79.2%), while trauma cases (18.8%) were almost exclusively inpatient (97.9%). Pathology procedures (22.5%) showed mixed utilization but were mainly inpatient, particularly infections and major pathology. Orthognathic (6.9%), cleft (2.5%), and reconstruction (0.5%) surgeries were predominantly inpatient, whereas TMJ procedures (2.1%) and plate removal (3.0%) were mostly day cases. Cosmetic surgery was least frequent (1.0%) with mixed admission patterns. Conclusion: Day surgery plays an important role in OMFS services by accommodating nearly half of maxillofacial surgical patients, particularly for less complex procedures.