Stewart's Removable Partial Prosthodontics. Third Edition.

Edited by:
  • R. D. Phoenix,
  • D. R. Cagna &
  • C. F DeFreest.
(Eds) Surrey, Quintessence price £63, pp526. ISBN 0867154179 | ISBN: 0-867-15417-9

This is a wonderful book full of good practical common sense that will enable a dental practitioner to achieve more predictable success in removable partial prosthodontics. Partial denture planning is too often determined after all the other treatment has been completed, or else is delegated to the dental technician. The reluctance of dentists to undertake partial denture design may be due to confusion over conflicting design philosophies or the declining amount of practical experience given by some dental schools in their curriculum.

This book describes in detail both clinical and laboratory stages of partial denture planning and construction. The design philosophy described in this textbook follow the principles of “broad stress distribution” i.e. minimizing damaging forces on abutment teeth by developing an harmonious occlusion and using flexible direct retainers and rigid major connectors. With the tooth-tissue borne denture, impression techniques and laboratory procedures to record the oral mucosa in their functional form are described in detail and are lavishly illustrated. All of these design principles will derive broad agreement amongst colleagues.

This is a comprehensive, clear guide on framework construction that will enable the dentist to have a useful dialogue with laboratory personnel. Tell your technician about the twin-flex clasp which deserves to be more popular - it is a flexible wrought clasp that is soldered to the metal framework while being hidden in the interproximal undercut. After reading this book, I resolved to make routine use of facebow mountings of the maxillary cast, which allow the articulator's arc of rotation to be the same as the arc of rotation of the patient's mandible. This permits subsequent, precise verification of further jaw relation records at the wax trial denture stage, if necessary. The maxillary cast is also orientated correctly to the horizontal plane which lets the dentist and technician view the maxillary trial denture in the laboratory, as it will appear in the patient's mouth.

Dentists working in the low fee British National Health Service may raise a wry, bitter smile when they read that the first diagnostic appointment could be completed in one hour. However, a complete set of periapical and bite-wing radiographs and blood pressure screening, as recommended in this textbook, may not be considered routinely necessary. Other clinical stages are given similar generous time allocations.

This is an excellent book that I recom-mend for anyone wanting to improve their understanding of that most demanding of subjects - removable partial prosthodontics.