Insight into contemporary molecular diagnostic techniques revolutionizing the specialty of oral maxillofacial pathology and microbiology

The specialty of oral maxillofacial pathology and microbiology is currently undergoing a paradigm shift as the present diagnostic protocols continue to upscale itself from the basics of H and E staining procedures, and immunohistochemistry to newer molecular diagnostic techniques such as polymerase chain reaction, comparative genomic hybridization, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and tissue microarray to name a few. In this era of growing numbers of pandemics like COVID-19 affecting the world population, it is imperative for all oral pathologists and microbiologists to keep abreast with these newer diagnostic facilities such that they can be valuable team members along with medical health care providers in the hour of need in encountering severe disease processes such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, swine flu, and MERS.