Need and availability of dentists and dental specialists/ oral surgery courses

INDIAN DENTAL
ACADEMY
Leader in continuing Dental
Education
www.indiandentalacademy.com

 Postgraduate training in Oral Medicine and
Radiology available since almost 40 years.
 Hundreds of specialists registered with IAOMR
 Why is it not routine for a medical practitioner to
refer patients to a specialist in Oral Medicine and
Radiology?

Is it because
 Such need doesn’t arise frequently?
Or
 The need does arise frequently, but specialists are not
available or easily accessible?
Or
 Of some other reasons?

Methodology:
 A questionnaire was sent by post to 200 randomly
selected medical practitioners registered with IMA,
Pune.
 Same questionnaire was used to conduct a direct
interview of 41 medical practitioners in private
practice and 25 working at a local teaching hospital.
 Total number approached = 266

Questionnaire
 Consisted of 2 parts:
 Part A: General information about the participating
medical professionals including their:
 Qualification
 Specialization
 Year of passing
 Duration of practice
 Nature of practice

 Part B: 20 questions pertaining to:
 Oral and dental complaints the medical professionals
come across in their patients
 Their preferred line of treatment, and
 Awareness among the medical practitioners of our
speciality.

 86 responded i.e. 32% of the practitioners
approached.
 Distribution by qualification:
› General practitioners = 31%
› General surgeons = 16%
› Specialists in general medicine =13%
› ENT specialists = 10%
› Dermatologists = 8%
› Others = 22%

Part B
 Medical professionals do feel the need of referring
patients with dental complaints to the dentists.
 Significantly more number of referrals are made to a
general dental practitioner than a dental specialist
 The specialties most commonly referred by medical
practitioners were Orthodontics and Oral Surgery
 Not even a single medical practitioner mentioned
Oral Medicine and Radiology in the list of dental
specialties.

1. Do you get patients with one or more of the
following?
Stomatitis 20%
Oral ulcerations 21%
Mouth dryness 10%
Pain in TMJ 12%
Burning sensation 12%
Jaw stiffness 11%
White patch 14%

2. These conditions are:
Reported by patients as a complaint 40%
Discovered by you 4%
3. Do you treat such patients?
Yes 74%
No 26%

4. If no, do you refer such patients to:
General dental practitioners 60%
Dental teaching institute 23%
Dental specialist 17%

5.What are the major reasons that prevent you from
treating such conditions?
Difficulty in diagnosis 11%
Not sure of right treatment 21%
Uncertain results 10%
Not rewarding financially 1%
Any other reasons 14%
No response 43%

6. Do you feel that a dentist … accurate diagnosis and
better management of oral mucosal conditions?
Yes 80%
No 11%
Sometimes 9%

7. Are you aware of Oral Medicine and Radiology as
one of the specialties of dentistry?
Yes 70%
No 30%
8. Are you aware of any such specialists (MDS in Oral
Medicine and Radiology) in your vicinity/ city?
Yes 28%
No 72%

8. Have you referred any of your patients to such
specialists?
Yes 22%
No 78%

9. If yes, please name the oral condition/s for which
referral was made.
 White patch, pain in tongue, recurrent ulcers,
leukoplakia, plaques, TMJ stiffness , GVHD,
carcinoma of tongue , stomatitis, OSMF, bruxism
 Malpositioning of teeth, double row of teeth in
children, orthodontic corrective alignment, RCT,
cosmetic crowning, molar abscess, impacted 3rd
molar, impaction, gum problems, dental caries

Conclusions:
 All medical practitioners get patients with lesions
under the purview of Oral Medicine. Majority of
these are reported by patients as a chief complaint.
 Majority of these are treated by the medical
practitioners than being referred, which is in contrast
to dental complaints. Most commonly prescribed
drugs are local anesthetics, antifungals, steroids and
multivitamins.

 The majority of the referrals are to general dental
practitioners rather than a dental specialist.
 Not many medical practitioners seem to be aware of
the specialty of Oral Medicine and Radiology. Only
a small number knew specialists in Oral Medicine
available in their vicinity.
 Even though a need is felt, because of the less
availability and poor awareness of the expertise,
lesser referrals are done to an oral physician.

 What we experienced……
 A general reluctance to participate in the study.
 Poor response to postal questionnaire.
 Frequent rescheduling of personal interviews.
 “ Are there different specialties in dentistry also?”
 “What do you people do exactly?”
 “We don’t refer patients to you as we can treat them
better”
 “You think that patients are offered, and not referred
to you”
 “You are actually encroaching into the territory of
ENT & Dermatologists”www.indiandentalacademy.com

Is there any
 Role of Oral Physician in Health Care team
Λ
?

Sincere Thanks to:
 The medical practitioners who spared their time to
participate in the study
 IMA, Pune
 Dr. Amit Mhapuskar & Dr. Vinod V.C., Dept of
OMR, BVUDCH, Pune

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