Oral medicine is a dental specialization that focuses on treating and preventing diseases of the mouth, teeth, face, and jaws. Oral medicine specialists are typically dentists who also have training in surgery. They see patients who have not responded to previous treatments or have conditions that regular dentists and doctors are not qualified to treat. Oral surgeons are the most common type of oral medicine specialist and perform procedures such as oral or facial reconstruction, treating facial injuries, and removing tumors. There is some controversy surrounding oral medicine, as it overlaps the fields of medicine and dentistry. The goal is to create collaboration between the two professions.
Oral medicine is the science of treating and preventing diseases of the mouth, teeth, face or jaws. Oral medicine is an area of specialization in the field of dentistry. One can think in much the same way that podiatry is the science that treats and prevents foot diseases. Oral medicine focuses on conditions of the mouth, such as chronic pain or even cancer, and those conditions will naturally include problems associated with the teeth, so a person who specializes in oral medicine must also be a dentist.
As an area of specialty, the oral medicine specialist is not a physician who is typically seen first when disease or injury to the mouth occurs. Oral medicine doctors see patients who have not responded to previous treatments from dentists or doctors, or who have conditions that regular dentists and doctors are not qualified to treat. In most cases, a patient should first see their dentist or primary care physician before being referred to an oral medicine specialist.
The oral surgeon, sometimes called a maxillofacial surgeon, is the most common type of oral medicine specialist. The word “maxilla” means upper jaw bone, so the term “maxillofacial” means the jaw or face. To become an oral surgeon, a person must first successfully complete dental school and then serve seven or more years in a residency where they train in performing surgeries. Unlike a regular dentist, the oral surgeon is more likely to perform procedures or operations in a hospital than a dental office, making them more like a doctor than a dentist.
Procedures that are frequently performed by oral surgeons include oral or facial reconstruction of people with cleft palates; treating facial injuries from severe head trauma, such as a car accident; and even reducing the size of the tongue to treat sleep apnea. Oral surgeons also remove tumors in the mouth, face, or neck and fit dentures for patients. Tooth extraction, especially hard-to-reach wisdom teeth, is the most common procedure performed by oral surgeons.
Oral medicine can be thought of as a gray area that overlaps the fields of medicine and dentistry. There is some controversy surrounding oral medicine. It is unclear whether oral medicine is an area of specialization among dentists or physicians. In other words, it is difficult to decide whether the oral medicine specialist is a surgeon who knows dentistry or a dentist who knows how to do surgery. One of the goals of oral medicine is to create a climate of collaboration between the two professions to better serve society.
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