What Is Oral Medicine?

Oral Medicine is defined by the American Academy of Oral Medicine as the discipline of dentistry concerned with the oral health care of medically complex patients – including the diagnosis and management of medical conditions that affect the oral and maxillofacial region.

Oral medicine is primarily a non-surgical specialty with procedures limited to diagnostic biopsies, small excisions, therapeutic injections, and other minor surgical interventions. In many cases, conditions are managed medically with the use of topical and systemic medications.

Our specialists are experts in the diagnosis and management of patients with:

  • Oral mucosal and salivary gland diseases
  • Oral complications resulting from systemic disease
  • Oral complications from cancer treatment
  • Chemosensory and neurologic impairment of the oral and maxillofacial complex
  • Orofacial pain including temporomandibular disorders

Learn more about oral medicine services provided by Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Multidisciplinary Care

Our specialists have direct access to a broad range of laboratory and diagnostic facilities including intraoral and panoramic digital radiography, CT and other advanced imaging modalities, microbiological testing, and clinical and surgical pathology services. In addition, our doctors actively collaborate with other world-renowned medical specialists in disciplines including oncology, hematology, cardiology, immunology, dermatology, rheumatology, and endocrinology in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s network.

Our oral medicine specialists, on staff at both Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center, have clinical expertise in the management of oncology patients. Our specialists are diplomats of the American Board of Oral Medicine and hold faculty appointments through the Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Oral Medicine Appointments and Location

Learn more about Brigham and Women's Hospital


For over a century, a leader in patient care, medical education and research, with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery.

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