• Mohammad S Alrashdan, Azmi M G Darwazeh, Yazan Hassona, Dima H Bader, and Yousef S Khader.
• Department of Oral Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
• J Eval Clin Pract. 2019 Feb 1; 25 (1): 142-147.

Rationale, Aims, And ObjectivesInadequate awareness of oral health and related disciplines appears to be common among medical practitioners. This study was designed to evaluate the awareness of oral medicine (OM) specialty and its scope of practice among Jordanian medical practitioners and to outline potential strategies for improvement where appropriate.MethodA specially designed questionnaire was electronically distributed to Jordanian medical practitioners and thereafter via personal interviews to improve the response rate. The questionnaire comprised nine questions and covered demographical details and characteristics of participants, in addition to their awareness of OM and agreement to refer a group of common oral and dental conditions to OM specialists. Pearson Chi-square tests were used to examine the significance of association between the variables of respondents and awareness of OM. Significance level was set at P values < 0.05.ResultsA total of 1492 respondents completed the questionnaire, of which 779 (52.2%) were aware of OM as an independent specialty. Age group, higher degrees in medicine, country of graduation, and the specialty type were significant determinants of OM awareness level. Oral ulceration and other mucosal pathology, including fungal infections, were the most likely conditions to be referred to OM specialists while participants had apparent problems separating the scope of practice of OM from other dental disciplines.ConclusionThis study provides evidence on the profound interdisciplinary gap between medicine and dentistry and highlights the importance of more focused education and training in oral health-related disciplines to be provided to clinicians and medical trainees as described.© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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