Oral Pathology

• Riya Kuklani, DDS, Director

The Oral Pathology Biopsy Service is a part of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Temple University, located within surgical pathology. The service receives mail-in biopsy specimens from offices of oral surgeons, periodontists and endodontists throughout the Delaware Valley and is one of the largest such services in the country.

The biopsy service hosts a number of post-graduate dental residents each year from various institutions within Philadelphia. General practice residents, oral surgery residents, endodontic residents, periodontic residents and oral medicine residents spend 2 week rotations in the service and participate in grossing specimens and subsequent microscopic diagnosis. Didactic instruction of residents includes a prepared self-study manual with microscopic review of 65-70 cases of more common oral lesions. Residents also review clinical images with an oral pathologist with emphasis on providing adequate differential diagnosis. Daily histopathologic diagnosis permits further discussion regarding treatment of lesions.

A 2-4 week rotation in the Oral Pathology Biopsy Service is also available as an elective to residents in pathology, and they typically take advantage of this rather unique opportunity during their senior year. The pathology residents perform the same tasks required of the dental residents. In addition, they have the opportunity to review the histopathology of over 20,000 cases in the archives of the Oral Pathology Slide Exchange Collection. These slides have accrued over the years from an active, ongoing exchange of interesting cases among 30-35 oral pathology centers worldwide as a form of continued education. Overall, the rotation is designed to broaden the experience of residents in the field of head and neck pathology.