An international survey of oral medicine practice: proceedings from the 5th World Workshop in Oral Medicine.

OBJECTIVES: (i) To define the current state of oral medicine clinical practice internationally, and (ii) to make recommendations for future modeling of the practice of oral medicine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey was designed by an international panel of oral medicine experts to assess the current state of oral medicine practice internationally. The survey was sent to oral medicine experts across the world, and responses were electronically stored and analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Two hundred respondents completed the survey representing 40 countries from six continents. The two most common settings for an oral medicine practice were in a hospital and a dental school. More than 88% of respondents considered management of oral mucosal disease, salivary dysfunction, oral manifestations of systemic diseases, and facial pain in the definition of oral medicine. CONCLUSIONS: (i) Oral medicine clinicians diagnose and manage a wide variety of orofacial conditions; (ii) There are significant differences in the definition of oral medicine clinical practice from country to country; (iii) India has the largest expansion of oral medicine services as defined by escalating numbers of clinicians within the specialty as compared with other countries; (iv) oral medicine practitioners have a wide range of professional responsibilities.

Root canal treatment on a patient with zinc oxide allergy: a case report.

AIM: To describe successful root canal treatment of a patient with a true zinc oxide allergy and to discuss allergic reactions to dental materials. SUMMARY: Dental materials have been reported as aetiologic agents for both local and systemic allergic reactions. It is essential for the oral healthcare provider to recognize the clinical symptoms associated with allergic reactions and to modify dental treatment, if necessary, to prevent these reactions from occurring. This article describes an unusual case of a patient with an allergy to zinc oxide. To our knowledge, this is the first case of successful root canal treatment of a patient with confirmed zinc oxide allergy to be reported in the dental literature. KEY LEARNING POINTS: Medical and dental histories must be evaluated to prevent medical complications secondary to dental treatment. Any patient suspected of having an allergy to dental materials should be referred to a healthcare professional capable of performing and interpreting allergy tests prior to dental treatment.