Oral Surgery and Maxillofacial Surgery Specialty Codes

Physicians self-designate their Medicare physician specialty on the Medicare enrollment application (CMS-855I) or Internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System when they enroll in the Medicare program. Dentists who practice general or specialized dentistry should be enrolled in Medicare as specialty 19 (oral surgery - dentists only) or specialty 85 (maxillofacial surgery). Dentists enrolled as specialty 19 might extract teeth, perform simple surgical biopsies or remove suspicious tumors or lesions in the oral cavity. Dentists enrolled as specialty 85 are trained and practice primarily maxillofacial surgery by doing major repairs of facial trauma, oral tumors or jaw reconstruction. Otolaryngologists should be enrolled in Medicare as specialty 04. It is important for physicians to select the most correct specialty code in order to promote the correct coding and processing of Medicare claims.