Toward New Horizons in Oral Medicine

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www.kaom.org ISSN 2288-9272 J Oral Med Pain 2014;39(1):1 http://dx.doi.org/10.14476/jomp.2014.39.1.1

Toward New Horizons in Oral Medicine

Jae-Kap Choi

Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea

accom plishment in oral medicine over the last 40 years in Korea. Since oral medicine had been first introduced to Korea in mid-1960s by professor Sung-Woo Lee, the academy was established in 1972 with only 11 members, and the official journal of the academy was launched in 1973.

Currently, the number of membership is more than 500 and the Oral Medicine is a recognized dental specialty in Korea.

Every 11 dental school in Korea has the department of oral medicine along with 3-year postgraduate training program.

Clinical service of oral medicine is provided not only by all the university-based dental hospitals but also by some pri- vate dental clinics limited in oral medicine. The major com- ponents of the patients managed by oral medicine specialist in Korea are those with oral mucosal disease, orofacial pain, temporomandibular disorders, and sleep-related breathing disorders.

We think there is a growing need to implement this specialty globally due to the rapid progress both in medicine and dentistry, and to the growing percentage of aging pop- ulation in many countries. As an international journal, we expect, this journal will make a big contribution to global propagation of our knowledge and clinical experience in oral medicine beyond Korea as well as to improving com- munications among experts in oral medicine and orofacial pain all over the world.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

On behalf of the Editorial Board, I am delighted to an- nounce two important changes, from this year’s first issue, in publication of the official journal of the Korean Academy of Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine. One is that the jour- nal title was changed from Korean Journal of Oral Medicine into Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain to more accurately reflect the increasing number of articles on orofacial pain and temporomandibular disorders. The other is that its publication policy has been updated to adopt a full English edition to encourage international circulation around the world.

Oral medicine is a dental specialty placed at the interface between medicine and dentistry and is concerned with the diagnosis and management of (non-dental) pathology af- fecting the oral and maxillofacial region. Traditionally, oral medicine specialists provide clinical care to patients with a wide variety of orofacial conditions, including oral mucosal diseases, orofacial pain disorders, salivary gland disorders, chemosensory and neurologic impairment of the oral and maxillofacial complex, and oral manifestations of systemic diseases. Over the last 20 years, however, the clinical as well as research activities in the field of chronic orofacial pain disorders such as burning moth syndrome, trigeminal neu- ralgia, temporomandibular disorders, and headache were rapidly expanding and this field has become one of major domains of oral medicine. A lot of articles on orofacial pain and temporomandibular disorders have been published in the journal in recent years. This is the reason why the journal title was changed.

We, as a member of Korean Academy of Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine, are very proud of our incredible

Editorial

JOMP

Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain