Clinical Decision-Making in Oral Medicine

Accurately diagnosing the myriad of diseases that can affect the mouth, guiding patients correctly, and offering treatment with competence is a permanent challenge for dental surgeons and health professionals. Often, the diagnosis of these diseases is neglected or wrongly performed. This concise book guides health professionals in clinical decision making in oral diseases, assisting them not only on the diagnosis and treatment of oral and maxillofacial diseases, but also in terms of value and benefit of who treats the condition and, above all, who will be treated. The work provides guidelines formulated by a compilation of specific protocols of conduct, focusing on the scientific evidence and enriched by the authors’ critical analyses. The book is divided into eight main sections that include twenty-eight chapters. Most of them have no more than 5 pages and follow the same format to standardize their use. Each chapter begins with a summary of the topic, a brief description of the main disease that fall into this diagnostic category, and their main definitions. Then, the clinical characteristics, ways of making the diagnosis, and a protocol for treatment for each lesion are presented. Additionally, the experienced authors interestingly discuss their perceptions on how to give bad news in the Oral Medicine setting; and the last section is especially dedicated to the dental management of medically complex patients or with little-known diseases, such as Burning Mouth Syndrome and COVID-19. More than 140 high resolution clinical images illustrate the book. Clinical Decision-Making in Oral Medicine targets is designed for health professionals and physicians from various specialties, who are interested in diseases with systemic repercussions that affect the oral and maxillofacial complex and in oral repercussions of treatments for complex diseases such as head and neck cancer. Students in dentistry may also find the book of value.

Part I. Clinical Protocols for Diagnosis.1. History Taking and Physical Examination.- 2.Standardization in Oral Photography.- 3.Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology and Exfoliative Cytology.- 4.Biopsy of the Oral Mucosa and Histological Assessment.- 5.Protocol