Prevalence and nature of orofacial and dental problems in family medicine

Objective: To determine the prevalence and nature of orofacial and dental p roblems in 2 family medicine practices. Design: Prospective, cross-sectional analysis of consecutive patient visits . Setting: Urban and rural family medicine practices. Patients and Participants: Four hundred seventy-two patients between age 10 and 86 years. Interventions: None. Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence and nature of patient visits to family me dicine practices that were either initiated by problems in the region of th e oral cavity or that involved questions raised by the patient concerning o ral or perioral sites. Results: Twenty-one patients (4.5%) of 472 met the inclusion criteria, 16 ( 76%) of whom had an oral problem as the primary or secondary reason for the ir visit. Perioral pain and mucosal ulcerations were the most common proble ms, and gingival tissue was the most common location. Almost two thirds of these patients had bacterial, fungal, or viral infections. Regarding treatm ent, 13 (62%) of these patients received advice, 10 (48%) received prescrip tions, and 3 (15%) were referred to a dentist or another medical specialist . Conclusions: Oral and perioral problems are common in the practice of famil y medicine, which suggests the desirability for specific oral medicine topi cs in the training and continuing education of primary care physicians.