Oral medicine practice in Europe and Australia: Identifying practitioner characteristics and their clinical activity.

ABSTRACT

Oral Medicine is a young dental specialty born almost a century ago and deals with orofacial conditions not directly attributable to the most prevalent tooth pathologies such as dental caries or periodontal diseases. Presentations may reflect local disease or orofacial manifestations of more widespread pathology affecting other parts of the body. Due to its recency as a distinct discipline and to heterogeneous global settings, Oral Medicine has not yet achieved a shared scope and definition, as well as a recognized status across the globe. The current report presents survey data gathered from Oral Medicine practitioners in Europe and Australia and aimed to identify practitioner characteristics including demographics, training, clinical and research activity. As expected, Oral Medicine clinical practice commonly deals with conditions such as immune-mediated disorders, potentially malignant disorders, oral mucosal infections and chronic pain disorders, but geographical heterogeneities are observed. The present data, representative of current clinical practice, are valuable in order to understand the evolution of Oral Medicine as a distinct discipline and should be taken into consideration in order to create or update postgraduate training curricula able to meet the needs of future practitioners and the communities they serve.