Global Health Nexus, Winter 2004

NYU Dentistry Cosponsors and Hosts International Oral Medicine Symposium

NYU Dentistry was both the site and a cosponsor for an international oral medicine symposium held in Saklad Auditorium in November, when the American Academy of Oral Medicine, NYU Dentistry, and the New York County Dental Society cosponsored “Oral Medicine Symposium: A Practical, State-of-the-Art Review,” a two-day forum dedicated to helping dentists face the challenge of providing care for patients with medical, salivary, and chronic facial pain problems. One hundred and forty-six dentists from eight countries and 21 states participated in the symposium, which was organized by Dr. David Sirois, Associate Professor of Oral Medicine and of Diagnostic Science and Urgent Care, and Chairman of the Department of Oral Medicine.

The symposium brought together a panel of 12 outstanding experts to present a contemporary, evidence- based, and practical review of the most current information available to enable dentists to expand both the scope and the depth of the services they provide. The program focused on topics in four major categories: oral cancer and tobacco cessation, medicine and pharmacology, oral mucosal diseases, and chronic orofacial pain.

According to Dr. Sirois, “In addition to providing primary care directed toward the dentition and periodontium, every dentist will face the challenge of helping patients with oral health problems that may include oral cancer, xerostomia (dry mouth), risk factors for systemic illness, and many kinds of pain. As an educational institution, NYU Dentistry has a responsibility to help shape, in partnership with organized dentistry, the knowledge base in this area and to provide the tools to help dentists better serve their patients.”