Scope of practice, referral patterns and lesion occurrence of an oral medicine service in Australia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the scope of practice, lesion occurrence and utilisation of referral-based hospital and private practice oral medicine and oral pathology (OMP) services in Australia. Clinical records of patients referred to a hospital (n=500) and private (nbequals;1104) OMP clinic were audited. For each patient, the following parameters were recorded: age, gender, source of referral, reason for referral, site of lesion/condition if applicable, medical and drug history, diagnostic services utilised, clinical and histopathological diagnoses rendered, medications prescribed and further treatment required. A majority of the referrals were generated by general dental practitioners. The most commonly seen problems were epithelial hyperplasia/hyperkeratosis, oral candidosis, oral lichen planus, xerostomia, recurrent aphthous ulcers and burning mouth syndrome. OMP specialists requested diagnostic imaging for 13% of hospital and 9.42% of private patients, diagnostic biopsies were required for 18.4% of hospital and 19.3% of private patients, blood tests were ordered for 14.4% of hospital and 12.13% of private patients, while medications were prescribed for approximately 36% of hospital and 51% of private patients. This study is the first to detail the scope of practice, lesion occurrence and utilisation of services offered by OMP specialists in Australia. The demand for OMP services is strong.