Information for oral medicine patients

What is oral medicine?

Care for oral health of patients with chronic recurrent and medically related disorders of the mouth and with their diagnosis and non-surgical management.

Oral medicine is a specialist clinical area of care for treating head and neck medical diseases. In some instances, mouth symptoms and signs reflect problems only in the mouth. However, in some cases mouth symptoms can suggest a connection with disease or problems in other parts of the body and it is the oral medicine specialist who can best decide what tests or investigations are needed in these situations.

Conditions managed in oral medicine are often chronic and may affect your quality of life. Some of these conditions also involve other diseases in the body, and in these cases the oral medicine specialist works with other specialists and members of the team to manage your care.

Further information can be found at the British and Irish Society for Oral Medicine Website.

Oral medicine at Leeds Dental Institute

This section explains what you can expect when you attend the oral medicine department.

Our services include:

General oral medicine consultation clinics (8 clinics per week) – for routine referrals and follow-up patients
Multi-disciplinary and special interest clinics
Multi-disciplinary clinic with Paediatric Dentistry for children (monthly)
Multi-disciplinary Dysplasia clinic with Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (monthly)
Clinics dedicated to non-tooth related orofacial pain (weekly)
Biopsy clinics (2 clinics per week)

Referrals are received from dentists, doctors and other healthcare professionals and are initially triaged. If the referral is accepted, an appointment will be made either via telephone or face-to-face in clinic. Please note that there is no ‘walk in’ emergency service and all appointments are scheduled and booked.

About your appointment

If you need to change or cancel your appointment, please tell us as soon as possible by calling the Oral Medicine Reception: 0113 343 6223.

Before your appointment have a think about what is important to you and what help you are looking for from the Oral Medicine team. It may be knowing what the diagnosis is and what can be done to help relieve the symptoms. Worries about cancer or other serious diagnoses are not unusual. Writing down your key concerns before the appointment is helpful.

If you have any photographs of your condition e.g. on your phone please bring this with you if you are having a face-to-face appointment in clinic.

Please follow the instructions in the appointment letter including any adjustments linked to infection prevention.

Our telephone and face-to-face clinics are carried out by a member of the consultant-led Oral Medicine team. The clinician will ask questions about your symptoms and concerns, as well as about your general health. Please have a list of any medications that you take and drug allergies that you have had.

We make every effort to start your consultation on time. For a telephone appointment we will aim to call you during the time window given in your appointment letter. For face-to-face appointments please arrive 10 minutes before. If you are more than 20 minutes late for your appointment, you may not be seen.

Appointments are of variable length and are mostly completed within 30 minutes. If your condition is more complex your appointment may be longer.

If you need further tests or investigations, we will discuss with you what they involve. For a face-to-face appointment this can extend the time that you are in the hospital (e.g. for blood tests). Tests may be arranged for another day and may take place in the hospital, at your GPs or another healthcare provider.

Some patients may be offered a biopsy depending on their clinical situation. If so, we advise you to eat and drink as normal prior to the appointment. Take your medication as prescribed, unless advised otherwise.

A biopsy is carried out under local anaesthetic to ensure that the procedure is painless. Sometimes, a small amount of local anaesthetic gel is applied to the area which is going to be biopsied in the first instance. Then, to make the area completely numb, an injection is given similar to what you experience at your dentist and this can take a few minutes to work.

Once the area is completely numb, a small piece of tissue is removed, this leaves a small wound that often requires stitching. In most cases, the stitches are dissolvable (which means they do not need to be removed). They usually last up to 10 days. The whole process – injection, biopsy and stitching – usually takes around 10-15 minutes, from start to finish. Most patients feel fine to drive or go home on public transport afterwards.

Your results will typically be ready 6 weeks following your biopsy and we will communicate these to you, your GP and dentist in writing. In addition, you may be offered a review appointment to discuss the results of your biopsy.

Once there is a diagnosis your treatment options will be discussed with you. It is important that you ask as many questions as you need to help you understand your diagnosis and management. At the end of your appointment you will be asked if you would like to receive a copy of the clinic letter.