As someone who has a role as a Module Lead for undergraduate students in dentistry and is a Senior Academy Tutor for medical students at the University of Birmingham, I have kept in touch with being a physician. I recognise that not all problems are solved by surgery and sometimes it’s just as important knowing when not to operate.

I regularly see and treat the following oral medicine conditions in my clinical practice:

• lichen planus / lichenoid lesions;
• burning mouth syndrome (BMS) / oral dysaesthesia / glossodynia;
• trigeminal neuralgia;
• post-herpetic neuralgia;
• persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP);
• white patches (leukoplakia) and dysplastic lesions in the mouth;
• red patches (erythroplakia / erythroplasia) in the mouth;
• xerostomia (dry mouth) including Sjogren’s syndrome;
• recurrent aphthous ulceration (RAU) and oral ulceration of other causes;
• vesiculobullous conditions e.g. pemphigus, mucous membrane pemphigoid;
• bacterial, fungal and viral infections of the oral cavity e.g. thrush, herpes, oral manifestations of HIV;
• oral manifestations of systemic diseases e.g. inflammatory bowel disease.