Description

Oral pathology refers to the diseases of the mouth (“oral cavity” or “stoma”), jaws (“maxillae” or “gnath”) and related structures such as salivary glands, temporomandibular joints, facial muscles and perioral skin (the skin around the mouth). The mouth is an important organ with many different functions. It is also prone to a variety of medical and dental disorders. The specialty oral and maxillofacial pathology is concerned with diagnosis and study of the causes and effects of diseases affecting the oral and maxillofacial region. It is sometimes considered to be a specialty of dentistry and pathology. Sometimes the term head and neck pathology is used instead, but this might imply that the pathologist deals with otorhinolaryngologic disorders (i.e., ear, nose, and throat) in addition to maxillofacial disorders. In this role, there is some overlap between the expertise of head and neck pathologists and that of endocrine pathologists. The dental clinician frequently comes across lesions that involve the hard and soft tissues of the oral cavity. Most of these conditions do not pose a diagnostic problem for the dental surgeon. However, the clinical dentist is sometimes accosted with a lesion, the diagnosis of which is not only challenging, but influencing the choice of treatment. This book is contribution from several international experts and adopts symptom- and disease-oriented approaches. It covers a wide range of topics, such as orofacial pain syndromes, common tooth- and gum-related diseases, oral mucosal white patches, blisters, ulcers, wart-like lesions and soft tissue lumps and swellings.