Oral Pathology

Oral pathology is a branch of dentistry and a part of pathology which deals with the scientific study of the causes and the effects of oral diseases. This field widely contributes to the treatment and the prevention of oral diseases.

More than 200 different types of diseases affect the oral cavity and they can be diagnosed through careful clinical and microscopic examination. One of the biggest challenges is the ability of the dentist to correctly diagnose the oral lesions.

Pathogenic conditions of the oral cavity could be caused due to various reasons. Some of them are listed below:
• The pathologic micro-organisms destroy the calcified tissues and inflame the soft tissues in the oral cavity.
• Infection, trauma and nutritional deficiencies may lead to defective development which affects the calcified tissues.
• Degeneration of the hard or soft tissues
• Malocclusion, which may results because of defective development of the jaws or loss of teeth, and causes excessive stress on portions of the periodontium

The Oral Pathologist provides diagnoses depending upon the subject of the patient. Most of the time, the treatment depends on the other specialists too who are involved in the treatment.
A dental graduate gets qualified as an Oral Pathologist or Maxillofacial Pathologist by pursuing a 3 year internship in this field.