Nordic theme 2024 – Oral Medicine

The 30th Nordic theme is oral medicine. Congratulations to the Nordic theme! These articles are published in all the five Nordic dental journals: Tandläkartidningen (Journal of the Swedish Dental Association), Tandlægebladet (Danish Dental Journal), Tidende (The Norwegian Dental Journal), Suomen Hammaslääkärilehti (The Finnish Dental Journal) and Tannlæknablaðið (Icelandic Dental Journal).

One question for the readers may be: what is oral medicine? The definition of oral medicine varies between countries and regions, even in the Nordic countries, and the opening article discusses the definition and provide the history of oral medicine as well as future perspectives. Obviously, the Nordic populations have changed, and this will be a challenge in the future.

The oral region includes salivary glands. One of the seven articles covers conditions and diseases affecting the salivary glands and their function. In addition, pain in the oral region is another important part of oral medicine. Burning mouth syndrome is an important issue to be mentioned in one of the articles.

The human being is one entity. The oral region is part of patients’ overall health. Pathological processes in the oral region may have significant impact on overall health and overall quality of life. Vice versa, systemic conditions and medications may significantly affect the function of the orofacial region. This issue is covered in two-part article entitled “Oral manifestations of systemic disorders”. The present issue is later followed by another two articles with aspects presenting common oral mucosal lesions and their differential diagnostics.

The pioneer of oral medicine in the Nordic countries was professor J.J. Pindborg. As can be seen by the articles presented, oral medicine has grown since his basic work years ago, and now includes large areas of dental and medical issues. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the obvious need for all dentists to regularly update themselves on subjects relevant to their clinical practice. However, there is also a need for the society to provide specialized dentists with a deep knowledge of oral medicine. The present seven articles have been established as a Nordic collaboration. We all benefit from collaboration, which enables mutual learning. We also need high quality research in oral medicine and working together, we can provide expertise and sufficient power based on increased numbers of patients. Taken together, all our efforts are aimed at doing the best for our patients in a changing world.

We hope you will enjoy this theme of oral medicine!

The editorial committee:

Jaana Rautava, chairman, Finland

Bente Brokstad Herlofson, Norway

Karin Garming-Legert, Sweden

Palle Holmstrup, Denmark

Svend Richter, Island

Mataleena Parikka, Coordinating editor