David H Felix

Postgraduate Dental Dean, NHS Education for Scotland

The francis report – implications for the education and training of dental professionals



‘…clinicians did not pursue management with any vigour with concerns they may have had. Many kept their heads down’.1
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Oral medicine: 17. radiolucencies and radio-opacities. d. antral disease

Paranasal sinuses are air-filled cavities in the dense portions of the bones of the skull lined with a ciliated mucosa, the mucus from which drains via openings (ostia) into the nose. The main sinuses...

Oral medicine:16. radiolucencies and radio-opacities. c. odontogenic tumours

Odontogenic tumours are rare, are often asymptomatic, and discovered incidentally on imaging (Table 1). They are generally slow-growing and may reach a large size before becoming symptomatic, eg:.

Oral medicine: 15. radiolucencies and radio-opacities. b. odontogenic diseases and cysts

Caries, periodontitis or pericoronitis are the common oral pyogenic infections. Depending on the bacterial load and host immunity, dental pulpal infection may lead to apical periodontitis, abscess and...

Oral medicine: 14. radiolucencies and radio-opacities. a. bone diseases

Radiographic features to be assessed include the lesional size, site, shape, margins, radio-density and effects on adjacent structures (displacement of the inferior alveolar nerve or tooth...

Oral medicine: 13. lumps and swellings: jaws

Many diseases of, or in, the jaws present asymptomatically, as radiolucencies, radio-opacities or with mixed appearances on radiographs. Other presentations are as swellings, pain or sometimes...

Oral medicine: 12. lumps and swellings: salivary

Salivary glands usually swell because of inflammation (sialadenitis) (Figure 1), which is often viral but may have other causes (Table 1). Obstruction of salivary flow is another common cause...

Oral medicine: 11. lumps and swellings: mouth

Lumps and swellings in the mouth are common, but of diverse aetiologies (Table 1) and some develop into ulcers, as in various bullous lesions (Article 2) and in malignant neoplasms (Article 3)..

Oral medicine: 10. lumps and swellings: neck

The lymphoid system is the essential basis of immune defences and comprises predominantly bone marrow, spleen, thymus and lymph nodes. Tissue fluid drains into lymph nodes which act as ‘filters’ of...

Oral medicine 9: orofacial pain

Pain in the teeth, mouth, face or head usually has a local cause – often the sequelae of dental caries (odontogenic pain) – but psychogenic, neurological, vascular and conditions where pain is...

Oral medicine: 8. orofacial sensation and movement

Sensory innervation of the mouth, face and most of the scalp depends on the fifth cranial (trigeminal) nerve, so that disease affecting this nerve can cause sensory loss or orofacial pain, or indeed...

Oral medicine: 7. red and pigmented lesions

Red oral lesions are commonplace and usually associated with inflammation in, for example, mucosal infections. However, red lesions can also be sinister by signifying severe dysplasia in...

Oral medicine: 6. white lesions


‘…a whitish patch or plaque that cannot be characterized clinically or pathologically as any other disease and which is not associated with any physical or chemical causative agent except the use of...

Oral medicine: 5. halitosis

Oral malodour, or halitosis, is a common complaint in adults, though few mention it, and can have a range of causes (Table 1). With oral malodour from any cause, the patient may also complain of a bad...

Oral medicine: 4. dry mouth and disorders of salivation

Dry mouth (xerostomia) is a complaint that is the most common salivary problem and is the subjective sense of dryness which may be due to:.