Oral Medicine has development steadily as an important subject in academic dental programs and as a significant discipline in dental practice during the past 50 years. Several textbooks on the subject have been published, postdoctoral programs in oral medicine have been established in the United States and abroad, an organization devoted to oral medicine has been established, research in oral medicine has expanded and innumerable articles on oral medicine have been contributed to the current dental literature. During the past ten years, there has been an increased interchange of ideas and information among colleagues in the United States and abroad. This interchange, the change in the patterns of oral disease, recognition or oral manifestations of systemic disease, the expanding geriatric population, the concern for special needs of medically compromised patients, the advent of AIDS, the increase in hepatitis B and a host of other influences on dental practice and particularly on the field of oral medicine make this an opportune time to evaluate the current status and future directions of oral medicine. A tested mechanism for the evaluation of a subject of this kind is an International Workshop. The University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, The University of Glasgow, Scotland Dental Hospital and School and the American Dental Association have agreed to cosponsor a World Workship on Oral Medicine to be held at the American Dental Association headquarters in Chicago, Illinois June 19 -24, 1988. The Workshop will bring together experts in oral medicine from around the world to deliberate and determine what is fact and what is oipinion and where research, patient care and dental education in oral medicine should be directed in the future. The deliberations of workshop section will be preceded by a thorough review of the pertinent literature for the past 15 years. The dileberations will be based on a series of questions to be developed by the faculty to the workshop from the review of literature and from pooling of their thoughts and ideas about where oral medicine must be directed for the next several years. The deliberations of the sections of the workshop will be presented, debated and conclusions drawn at the plenary sessions. It is expected that the publication which will result from the review of the literature and the recording of the proceedings will be the major reference in the field of oral medicine for the balance of the twentieth century.