Laboratory Medicine and Diagnostic Pathology

Laboratory tests play an important role in clinical diagnosis, and the results often direct patient management. Tests should be requested appropriately in order to refine the differential diagnosis, and it is important to understand the theoretical basis of such tests and to be able to interpret their findings. This chapter covers the common laboratory tests that may be requested in clinical oral medicine including hematology, clinical chemistry, immunology, and pathological investigations. The reasoning behind the use of such tests in diagnosis is explained, together with their interpretation and relevance to diseases affecting the oral and maxillofacial complex. A more precision-based approach to clinical care is being mirrored in oral medicine by tailored laboratory investigations relying on molecular pathology approaches such as next-generation sequencing. These will soon make their way into clinical practice and transform patient care, so it is imperative that clinicians keep up to date with advances in technology, techniques, and their underlying scientific basis for accurate and meaningful diagnosis and management strategies in oral medicine.