Bill Klaproth (Host): This is an AAOMS On the Go Podcast. I'm Bill Klaproth. And today, we welcome Dr. Jas Dillon, the Pathology Section Editor for the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Dr. Dillon, always great to see you. Welcome.

Jas Dillon: Thank you, Bill, so much again for having me here today. I'm so excited to be here.

Host: All right. So let's talk about this. Could you start by giving us an overview of the types of studies and research themes that are typically featured in your section of the Journal?

Jas Dillon: Yeah, I'm happy to do that. Before I even do that, though, I want to tell you that the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery has the highest impact factor of all the oral and maxillofacial journals currently out there with an impact factor of 2.3, which just goes to show it's a value to our readers. Thank you, Bill. Make sure I say that as like a plug for our Journal.

So, when an article comes into the editorial office, the first thing that happens is that either the editor, which is Dr. Tom Dodson, or the associate editor, Dr. Tara Aghaloo, will review the article to determine which section does it need to go into, and whether it's fit for the article. And as an author, you get to also decide, "Hey, which category do I want this article to go to?" But ultimately, the editorial office has the final decision. For Pathology, being the study of diseases in general, this is a very broad topic looking at research fields in medical practices. So I get a huge vast sort of diversity in terms of basic science, benchtop, from case reports, unusual rare cases, clinical trials. There's a very large spectrum of what is pathology.

Host: Okay. So, you're covering all of that. So let me ask you this then. Among the recent articles published, is there one that particularly stands out to you in terms of its potential impact on clinical practice and what makes it so significant?

Jas Dillon: Yeah. So, I'm going to cheat a little bit here and give you more than one.

Host: Okay, I love it.

Jas Dillon: And the reason why that is, when I put on my other hat, which is a Residency Program Director, a recent article that we've just accepted actually came from Emory's residency training, and that was under the auspices of Dr. Abramovich, one of the faculty there. And what her group looked at is that when dental students are applying to maxillofacial surgery, does where they live make a difference? For example, I'm in Seattle, I'm in the West Coast. I may as well be on another planet for somebody that's sitting in, say, New York. Because it’s so far. I mean, this meeting has been held in Florida. Seattle, it's a distance for me to come, and then there's a time difference.

And it turns out in her data, looking at 768 applicants with 968 being relevant to her study, that, yes, geography matters. And that's important for us as program directors when we're looking at selection, is we want to give everyone an opportunity, but we also have to be cognizant of costs for these residents flying all this distance. Cost of travel is expensive. Hotels are expensive. Does it make sense for someone to come all the way from one geography to another when the data shows that they're most likely not to match there? So I think that's important as a trend for us as a program director.

But then when I put my hat on as a section editor for the entire association, there has been a very nice systematic review looking at 5-FU versus modified Carnoy's solution for odontogenic keratocyst, and this is a systematic review and meta-analysis, and the results really favored 5-FU over modified Carnoy's for lowering the recurrence of OKCs and for lower nerve injuries. And so, I think that was a very nice study that's come out.

Host: You wear a lot of hats. You have a lot going on.

Jas Dillon: One or two. Yes, I do. It's fun.

Host: Do you have like a Seattle Seahawks hat?

Jas Dillon: I do have a Seahawks hat, that's right. Yes, I do.

Host: I like it. All right. So, let me ask you this, from your perspective as an editor, share some thoughts on emerging trends or topics in oral and maxillofacial surgery research that you are really excited about.

Jas Dillon: It's hard to know if I'm like truly excited about this topic because I'm a sort of like quasi-wary of the topic. And I think, as a society, it's AI.

Host: Oh, do tell. I was tell going to say, what are you excited and wary about?

Jas Dillon: It's how AI, chatbot, all of those, how are they going to be incorporated in research in the sense that is it going to be ethical research? Did you do it or did the robot do it? Am I actually sitting here or is it my robot talking to you today? I don't know. I haven't figured that out right now. But there is some early studies that are coming in where AI is being used, for example, in imaging to determine is something benign versus malignant? Can we train AI, especially in remote areas of the country or parts of the world where maybe AI can look at a picture of something and say, "Yeah, I'm kind of like more worried about this versus not. This person needs to have escalation of care sooner than not." So, there's pluses and minuses. And the other thing with this AI is how does it impact education and training? So, that's what we're looking at. And, you know, universities are talking about this, right? Exams coming out there, who's writing them. So, it's a plus and minus. Very exciting, but also a little bit nerve-wracking.

Host: Yes, that is true. So, what if someone uses it to tighten up the writing of it, the grammar, to make it more concise? Can people use AI that way? Are you okay with that?

Jas Dillon: So, we have very specific language that's in the guides for authors in the role of AI, which we had to add. And so, it's okay for things like that, but you can't do plagiarism, and we have programs that check for that. And we will know if AI does it, because there's some propriety thing as well. If AI goes ahead and publishes it, who owns it? You as an author don't actually own your work, the computer does.

Host:  Right.

Jas Dillon: Or Meta or whoever it is. I don't want to throw out some brand there, but whoever. Does that make sense?

Host: It does. It totally makes sense. All right, so let me ask you this then. So, we were speaking of people using AI and there's some ethical considerations and other things. How do you ensure that the research published in your section is both scientifically rigorous and relevant to practicing surgeons?

Jas Dillon: Well, first of all, I really want to give a shout out to not only the editorial board, but all our reviewers, because this is volunteerism at the highest level and it's tremendous amount of work. We rely on our reviewers to read these articles. So when an article comes into my inbox, so it'll come to me through the editorial process and I need to look at it. I will review the article quickly and I'll think, "Hey, who do I think that has an interest in this area?" If I have no one, then I can just go on the website, and then we have our reviewers, and then we can assign them. And we usually have a minimum of two, what we call peer-reviewed reviewers.

If the reviewers agree, I, as the section editor, will do my review. That review will then go to either the editor or the associate editor who will do their review. Ultimately, it will then go to the editor who will do a final review and that'll be a, "Hey, this is great, accepted," "It requires a minor revision, a major revision," "Unfortunately, you didn't make the cut this time around, but we would encourage you to apply again." The thing that becomes hard in this peer review process is if I send something out and one reviewer said, "This is fantastic, accept," and the other one was, "Yeah, this kind of sucks. Get rid of it," and so then I can either make a decision as a middle person, or I can go get somebody else. But I think it's a very stringent peer-reviewed process with people that are experts in that field to determine, is the science good? Is the question good? Does it make sense? Is the writing good? Would our readers want to read it?

Host: So, it's got to pass through four reviews.

Jas Dillon: At least.

Host: It's got to make those levels and, at any point, it could get cut or it gets kicked up to the next level.

Jas Dillon: Absolutely.

Host: So, that's how it works. All right. So then for someone saying, "Okay, yeah, I want to get published," what advice would you give to researchers looking to publish in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery or JOMS as it's known? Are there particular areas that you're looking for more submissions?

Jas Dillon: In some minds, for me, this question is the most important question as a section editor, because I would encourage all of you, when you're listening to this, please follow the Guide for Authors. The number one thing that is frustrating is if you don't follow the Guide in terms of how it needs to be written, what the sections are, what our requirements are, then you're immediately going to get the article bounced back to you. And there's no point in saying it to me. It's clearly written down there. It's in our Guide. You need to follow the instructions. That's very, very important. And that's very important for the younger generation, the younger faculty who want to submit. Sometimes they get so excited that they have this topic, and they want it to go out. Please, please, please follow the guide.

With regards to an idea, whenever you have a research idea. I remember as a junior faculty, a couple of years ago, she laughs. Yeah. You're so invested in your idea that sometimes it's like not finding, you know, the wood from the trees type thing. You need to step back and say, "I like this idea. Let me do a literature review. Let me see what's out there and if there's other things out there. Can I improve on what's out there? What am I bringing to the table?" And that's going to be important to see if your article moves forward. As an example, as I already said, there's AI and chatbots, we're getting a lot of articles on those now. But when we think about how things evolve, I don't have one thing, but I have an example for you. COVID-19 brought us to our knees, but at the same time, COVID-19 brought so many publications out there. I myself have seven. And the reality is it was a topic that none of us were familiar with. And suddenly, there was something out there that we all wanted to talk about. We educated our peers and our public. And that's the same with keep an eye out, what's new out there. And that's where the AI research is starting to increase now. How can that be incorporated into our day-to-day basis? New drugs, statin. Latest data, statin might be preventative in osteoarrheid necrosis. Very small numbers, but maybe. If you're taking a statin because your cholesterol is high, maybe it's preventative for something else. We don't know right now, but that's where your research evolves.

Host: So if you're curious about something, "Hey, does this cause this? Maybe I should look into that. Are there other publications? Have other people written about this?" That might be a way to go about it if you're curious about something.

Jas Dillon: Yeah. And as an educator, one of the main things we always encourage our trainees is, you know, education and a discipline like ours is lifelong learning. So, you need to be asking yourself a question every day. As my boss says, once you get the answer, you're done for the day. But every day, you need to learn something new and ask yourself a question. If you're not doing that, then you're stagnating.

Host: Yes, that's just good life advice. See, you're helping us in more ways than one, Dr. Dillon.

Jas Dillon: There you go. I so aim to be helpful. Thank you.

Host: You're a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. That's all I have to say. My goodness. All right, Dr. Dillon, I love talking with you. You're awesome. Any final thoughts as we wrap up with insights from the Pathology Section Editor?

Jas Dillon: I would just say go out there and submit us some articles. I love to read them and I'm happy to like take some sidebar calls if you feel like you want to reach out if you have some project out there. But we want the articles. We encourage you to publish to us.

Host: Love it. Well, thank you for all of your work and everything that you do. Thank you so much. Once again, that is Dr. Jas Dillon. And for more information, visit AAOMS.org/JOMS. That's J-O-M-S. Once again, AAOMS.org/JOMS. And if you found this podcast helpful, and again, how could you not? Please share it on your social media and don't forget to subscribe. Thanks for listening.

Jas Dillon: Thanks, Bill.