Do doctors know about “Oral Medicine”?

Abstract

Oral Medicine is a branch within dentistry that deals with orofacial diseases. In the absence of adequate awareness and formalized referral system, there has been “doctor hopping” by patients with many sophisticated and needless investigations and management approaches in simple orofacial diseases. The objective of the study was to know the awareness level of medical practitioners about the Oral Medicine specialty and the volume and patterns of referral of patients with oral diseases. Validated questionnaire was sent to 148 medical doctors having a clinical practice in B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. Frequency and proportion were calculated. A total of 94 medical practitioners responded to the questionnaire. Out of them, 86.18% of medical doctors were aware about the existence of the Oral Medicine specialty. Only 17.02% of total clinicians referred patients to the Oral Medicine department for oral manifestations of systemic diseases, 21.27% referred for facial and TMJ problems, 38.29% referred for oral mucosal lesions and 15.96% referred patients for salivary gland disorders. There is a need to advocate the scope of Oral Medicine specialty for fostering interprofessional practice for better patient care.