{"id":119,"date":"2017-11-27T15:54:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T13:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saspio.org.za\/?page_id=119"},"modified":"2022-08-18T11:35:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T09:35:35","slug":"what-is-oral-medicine","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/saspio.org.za\/what-is-oral-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Oral Medicine?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oral medicine\u00a0(sometimes termed\u00a0dental medicine,\u00a0oral and maxillofacial medicine\u00a0or\u00a0stomatology)<\/h2>\n

is a\u00a0specialty\u00a0focused on the mouth and nearby structures. It lies at the interface between\u00a0medicine\u00a0and\u00a0dentistry.<\/p>\n

History<\/span><\/h2>\n

The importance of the mouth in medicine has been recognized since the earliest known medical writings. For example,\u00a0Hippocrates,\u00a0Galen\u00a0and others considered the tongue to be a “barometer” of health, and emphasized the diagnostic and prognostic importance of the tongue.\u00a0However, oral medicine as a specialization is a relatively new subject area.<\/sup>\u00a0It used to be termed “stomatology” (-stomato-<\/i>\u00a0+\u00a0-ology<\/i>).<\/sup>\u00a0In some institutions, it is termed “oral medicine and oral diagnosis”.<\/sup>\u00a0American physician and dentist,\u00a0Thomas E Bond\u00a0authored the first book on oral and maxillofacial pathology in 1848, entitled “A Practical Treatise on Dental Medicine”.\u00a0<\/sup>The term “oral medicine” was not used again until 1868.<\/sup>\u00a0Jonathan Hutchinson\u00a0is also considered the father of oral medicine by some.\u00a0Before becoming its own specialty in the United States, oral medicine was historically once a subset of the specialty of\u00a0periodontics, with many\u00a0periodontists\u00a0achieving board certification in oral medicine as well as periodontics.<\/p>\n

Scope<\/span><\/h2>\n

The orofacial pain region: “pain localized to the region above the neck, in front of the ears and below the\u00a0orbitomeatal line, as well as pain within the oral cavity;[including] pain of dental origin and temporomandibular disorders”.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Oral medicine is concerned with clinical\u00a0diagnosis\u00a0and non-surgical\u00a0management of non-dental\u00a0pathologies\u00a0affecting the orofacial region (the mouth and the lower face).<\/p>\n

Many systemic diseases have signs or symptoms that manifest in the orofacial region. Pathologically, the mouth may be afflicted by many cutaneous and gastrointestinal conditions. There is also the unique situation of hard tissues penetrating the epithelial continuity (hair and nails are intra-epithelial tissues). The\u00a0biofilm\u00a0that covers teeth therefore causes unique pathologic entities known as plaque-induced diseases.<\/p>\n

Example conditions that oral medicine is concerned with are\u00a0lichen planus,\u00a0Beh\u00e7et’s disease\u00a0and\u00a0pemphigus vulgaris. Moreover, it involves the diagnosis and follow-up of pre-malignant\u00a0lesions\u00a0of the oral cavity, such as\u00a0leukoplakiasor\u00a0erythroplakias\u00a0and of chronic and acute pain conditions such as\u00a0paroxysmal\u00a0neuralgias, continuous neuralgias,\u00a0myofascial\u00a0pain,\u00a0atypical facial pain,\u00a0autonomic\u00a0cephalalgias, headaches\u00a0and\u00a0migraines. Another aspect of the field is managing the dental and oral condition of medically compromised patients such as\u00a0cancer\u00a0patients suffering from related oral\u00a0mucositis,\u00a0bisphosphonate-related\u00a0osteonecrosis\u00a0of the jaws or oral pathology related to\u00a0radiation therapy. Additionally, it is involved in the diagnosis and management of\u00a0dry mouth\u00a0conditions (such as\u00a0Sj\u00f6gren’s syndrome) and non-dental\u00a0chronic\u00a0orofacial pain, such as\u00a0burning mouth syndrome,\u00a0trigeminal neuralgia\u00a0and\u00a0temporomandibular joint disorder.<\/p>\n

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