PATHOLOGY BEYOND SLIDES-WHERE DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE LIES?

Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology today is viewed as a speciality of dental sciences,which addresses the diagnosis and treatment of the disease of the oral and peri-oral regions. As medical practice, it covers all aspects of diagnostic methods on solid or fluid tissues based on laboratory techniques.It also covers the methodologies to transmit diagnostic data in an interpretable way to other physicians directly involved with patient treatment.It also manages tissue banks for research or diagnostic purposes. Cellular therapies from tissue banks or blood banks are increasingly becoming part of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology.The object of investigation in histopathology is the digital slide,which is accessible throughout the world with no time or geographical limits.It permits the digital modelling of routine histological and/or cytological slide and it also allows measurements by using image analysis or stereology software packages.The electronic slide can be viewed, examined and diagnosed on a computer connected to a microscope, a new interface in diagnostic histopathology.This article describes the possible uses of digital slides, future of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology beyond slides which by improving communication could have a positive effect on the entire health care system that will redefine how pathology will be practiced and the role of the Oral and Maxillofacial Pathologist in India in the near future.