NEED AND DEMAND FOR ORAL MEDICINE SERVICES IN 1996

The need and demand for oral medicine services in the United States an d Canada was determined by a prospective survey of American Academy of Oral Medicine practitioners who attended the Academy's 1996 annual me eting. Of the 50 surveys returned from 149 eligible registrants, it wa s determined that on the average, oral medicine practitioner responden ts practiced 2.3 days per week and treated 8.7 patients per day; this amounts to more than 40,000 patient-care visits per year. Almost 90% o f patients were treated because of medically compromising conditions, oral mucocutaneous disease, or chronic orofacial pain. Most of the car e (52%) was provided in non-university settings. Most treatment involv ed the comprehensive evaluation of complex oral problems (36.7%), the prescription of medications (24.2%), or comprehensive dental treatment (21.8%) for patients with severe and life-threatening medical conditi ons. These results suggest that oral medicine services are needed and that demand for these services is high.