Oral conditions of 1,049 patients referred to a university‐based oral medicine and orofacial pain center

Abstract

At the USC Orofacial Pain/Oral Medicine Center, 1,049 new patients seen from September 2003 to September 2005 were sorted according to their primary diagnosis. Two-thirds were female and 19.7% were over 64 years of age. The most prevalent diseases were categorized and compared with a similar study published 15 years ago. The seven categories included osseous disease (3.3%), mucogingival disease (17.8%), salivary/lymphatic disease (3.3%), TMD (46.3%); neuropathic pain/headache disorders (13.1%), motor/sleep disorders (9.1%), and miscellaneous (not included in above categories) (7.1%). The 35 most frequent diagnoses were sorted by the mean age of our patients and the male-female ratio was also determined. The oldest patients had burning mouth syndrome (68.1 +/- 14.7) and the youngest had internal derangements of the temporomandibular joints (27.9 +/- 14.0). These data could be used to provide information on the scope of oral medicine practice, to help practitioners create age-appropriate differential diagnoses, and to help dental school curriculum committees and graduate program directors assess their curricula to ensure they are including the full range of oral conditions in their programs.