The mouth is the part of the body that is the top end of the gut and helps transport air to and from the lungs. It is the only part of the body where hard tissues (teeth) naturally come out of soft tissues. The jaw joints are unusual as the left and right joints move together and not separately. With roles in taste, eating, speech and social interactions, the mouth is central to many activities of day-to-day living.

With this complexity, it is perhaps not surprising that problems that present in the mouth may also involve other parts of the body. Sometimes this is obvious. On other occasions it isn’t.

Specialists in Oral Medicine are trained to recognise where there may be involvement beyond the mouth. Close multi-disciplinary working with many other specialties aims to ensure that each patient gets the best treatment for their particular situation.

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.