Employment Type and Career Satisfaction Among Oral Medicine Specialists

Abstract

With fewer oral medicine (OM) specialists than members of other dental specialties, growing the profession to meet patient needs depends on demonstrating to dental educators, students, and practitioners the value and variety of career opportunities in this specialty. The aim of this study was to investigate the type of employment and career satisfaction of current OM specialists. An electronic survey was distributed to all 393 active members of the American Academy of Oral Medicine in May 2016. The questionnaire assessed respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, type of OM training received, workplace setting, type of OM practice, and career satisfaction. Career satisfaction rates were stratified by age and gender. A total of 124 respondents completed the entire survey, for a response rate of 31.6%. Among the respondents, 62.1% were males, the median age was 52 years, and 85.7% had completed an OM postdoctoral training program in North America. The median length of respondents' program was two years (range 1-6), and program types were one or a combination of certificate (44.1%), master's degree (21.2%), and postdoctoral fellowship (9.3%). A third (31.4%) of the respondents were employed at a university. The median score for respondents' satisfaction with their current job was eight on a scale from 0 to 10, though younger respondents (<39 years of age) were less satisfied with their positions than were older respondents (p<0.001). Management of oral mucosal diseases represented 23.7% of the respondents' patient care time. These OM specialists reported a high degree of satisfaction with their careers. These findings may help increase recognition of OM as a desirable career path and of the varied career opportunities available in academia, hospitals, and private practices.

Oral medicine practice in Europe and Australia: Identifying practitioner characteristics and their clinical activity

“…About 30% of OMPs are significantly involved in research activity and as may be expected this subset of practitioners spent more than 40% of their working time in University Hospitals. In 2011, the global survey by the World Workshop in Oral Medicine presented similar data, where 16% of OMPs spent more than 25% of their time on research (Stoopler et al, 2011), and recent data from the United States show that OMPs devote about 5 hr/week to research activity (Villa et al, 2018). Geographical variations show that most OMPs…”

“…Data from the United States are somewhat conflicting. The National Provider Identifier Database depicts OM providers’ activity as focused on non‐dental pathologies/conditions, but OM specialists are significantly involved in dental care as general/hospital dentistry accounts for 21% of their clinical practice activity (Villa et al., 2018 ), and lacking a recognized specialty of Special Needs Dentistry, dental care of medically complex/compromised patients has recently been suggested as a potential expansion field of OM (Miller & Peterson, 2018 ). Importantly, OM has for a long time not been recognized as a speciality in the United States until this was adopted by the American Dental Association in September 2020.…”

“…IMID are by far the main field of practice followed by oral leukoplakia. A couple of surveys from the United States report a slightly lower rate of oral mucosal lesions (24%–29%) but this difference could be due to reported involvement of OMPs in the treatment of dental pathologies/conditions (Pinto et al., 2015 ; Villa et al., 2018 ). The low involvement in IMID management observed in OMPs from Greece could be attributed to lack of facilitates.…”

Oral medicine education in predoctoral programs in US dental schools

“…It is worth noting that OM specialists manage a wide range of conditions including autoimmune, immune‐mediated, and ulcerative oral lesions, cancerous and potentially malignant oral lesions, oral infections including bacterial, fungal, viral and other infections, orofacial pain conditions, management of oral‐related adverse events of cancer therapy including conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as targeted therapies and immunotherapy, salivary gland disorders, and dental management of medically compromised patients 9,10 . In addition to their role in patient care, OM specialists are often involved in education and research in academic centers, which highlights the diversity of fields they can contribute to 11 …”

American Academy of Oral Medicine: 75 years of bringing medicine and dentistry back together

“…A recent survey of members indicated that 31.4% were employed by a University or medical center, approximately 25% of practice time was spent managing oral mucosal lesions, and there was a high degree of job satisfaction. 9 Since 1946, the AAOM has held a robust annual meeting each Spring with high-quality scientific sessions given by authorities from medicine and dentistry, to include members at all stages of their careers. Prior joint meetings have been held with the American Academy of Orofacial Pain and the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology.…”