title: The oral medicine clinic--what is its role?
abstract: The total number of new patients seen over a period of 12 months in an oral medicine department was 963. Of these 587 were seen by an oral physician, 168 by a liaison psychiatrist, 137 by an oral immunologist and 71 by a dermatologist with a special interest in diseases of the mouth. The broad categories of disease seen were: 364 with orofacial pain of non-dental origin; 263 with benign diseases of the oral mucosa; 149 with potentially malignant lesions, six with frank carcinomas; 100 with oral manifestations of a systemic disease; and 81 patients with conditions considered to be normal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University College London, UK.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Zakrzewska
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Downer
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lopes
mesh_terms: D003729:Dental Care; D003740:Dental Clinics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D009055:Mouth / Q000473:pathology; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D011897:Random Allocation; D012017:Referral and Consultation