Oral medicine is the dental Speciality placed at the interface between both medicine and dentistry.

[edit] Scope

Oral medicine is concerned with diagnosis and non-surgical management of (non-dental) pathology affecting the oral and maxillofacial region (e.g., oral lichen planus,Behçet's disease,pemphigus vulgaris). Moreover, it often involves the diagnosis and follow-up of pre-malignant lesions of the oral cavity (e.g., leukoplakia, erythroplakia). Another aspect of the Speciality is managing the oral condition of medically compromised patients (e.g. cancer patients who suffer from related oral mucositis, bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws or oral pathology related to radiation therapy). Additionally, it is involved in the diagnosis and management of dry mouth conditions such as Sjögren's syndrome and non-dental chronic orofacial pain conditions (e.g., burning mouth syndrome, trigeminal neuralgia and temporomandibular joint dysfunction.)

The main facets of Oral Medicine are:

• Clinical care
• Research
• Undergraduate and Postgraduate teaching

[edit] Training and Practise

Many oral medicine specialists have dual qualification with both primary medical and dental degrees. Currently there are 15 units in the United Kingdom, mainly based within the dental teaching hospitals, with around 30 Consultants practising.

[edit] Resources

• The British Society for Oral Medicine
• American Academy of Oral Medicine
• Oral Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand
• The International Academy of Oral Medicine
• The European Association of Oral Medicine