Description

Medical problems in Dentistry
Fourth edition
C. Scully and R.A. Cawson
Publisher:
Butterworth-Heinemann
Pages: 570
ISBN: 0-7236-1056-8
Price: 45

Continuing Professional Development is all about keeping up to date. When this book arrived on my desk for review I was deeply embarrassed to discover that my own library still contained the first edition, published in 1982. Reading this edition, and the reviewer does indeed read the book, has been a stimulating experience.

The text follows the same logical sequence as before, but is much more clearly presented and, interestingly, the type-set is much easier to read. A small number of colour illustrations are included for the first time, enabling clear visualisation of the conditions described. It would be nice in future editions for all the illustrations to be coloured.

The contents are quickly accessible through a comprehensive index, and the busy practitioner would easily find information on a particular problem whilst the patient is in the surgery. The beauty of the text is, of course, that it is written for dental practitioners and the information is presented relative to dental practice, rather than medicine. Several of these areas specific to dentistry have been strengthened in this edition.

The authors have also included much new material, in particular a section on socioeconomic, ethnic and geographical health issues, and of course drugs and diseases only recently discovered. The paragraph in their preface detailing the new material, from latex allergy to Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease, will immediately stimulate the curious reader to further study.

It is difficult to do justice to such a text in a brief review, and the fact that the text is a best-seller speaks volumes. It is an essential reference book for every practice

Peter Carrotte
Glasgow Dental Hospital and School
Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow
G2 3JZ
UK