Introduction to oral medicine
Working in oral medicine, you will treat a variety of conditions, including chronic, recurrent, and medically related disorders of the mouth, face and jaw. This encompasses managing conditions affecting the oral cavity, salivary glands, and non-dental facial pain. Many cases will require you to identify, diagnose, and treat oral manifestations of systemic diseases, necessitating close collaboration and shared care with other medical specialties.
As a specialist in oral medicine, you will typically be based in large teaching hospitals with strong links to academic departments at allied universities. This setting provides ample opportunities for teaching, learning, and research if you are interested in a career in oral medicine.
Within oral medicine clinical teams, you might find roles such as dental core trainees, specialty registrars, specialists, associate specialists, and specialty doctors and dentists. There are also university academic posts with honorary NHS contracts and consultant positions.
The British and Irish Society for Oral Medicine (BISOM) hold more information regarding oral medicine and career opportunities.