Successful Periodontal Therapy: A Non-Surgical Approach

  • P.A. Heasman,
  • P.M. Preshaw &
  • P. Robertson
Surrey: Quintessence, 2004 price £28, pp118 ISBN 1850970742 | ISBN: 1-850-97074-2

There is no shortage of publications seeking to guide the dentist in the provision of periodontal care. As a new and valuable contribution to dental education, the Quintessentials of Dental Practice series, of which this guide to non-surgical periodontal therapy is the latest volume, specifically aims at the busy general dental practitioner and his or her team. The authors are to be congratulated on the content, which goes a long way to improving routine periodontal therapy in practice. This very easy to read book forms a handy reference to be kept in the practice, whilst the layout, photographs and diagrams all help to constitute a well-proportioned text.

Clearly, in a book of this size, it cannot be the aim to provide a comprehensive review of treatment. As a result the authors are perhaps over selective in the choice of scientific papers that they discuss and that are suggested as further reading. However, they have generally fulfilled their stated aims, although there is little discussion of the possible limitations of non-surgical therapy, which is promised in the preface.

Overall, the book seems to make use of a sound evidence base, although the chapter on managing local risk factors, which includes a fairly extensive treatise on the role of occlusal factors, might be questioned in this respect. Similarly, there are some unfortunate inconsistencies in the text. For example, it is stated that 'the post-treatment morphology of the gingival tissue is often irregular and may further complicate plaque control' whilst, two pages later, the caption to the accompanying photograph states that 'the gingival shrinkage that has occurred will make it easier for the patient to use interdental aids to maintain a high level of plaque control, even though the gingival morphology is irregular'. The chapter on Hygiene Phase therapy is very welcome but concentrates a little too much on tools with little emphasis on the problems of patient motivation which is perhaps one of the hardest things most dentists and hygienists have to do each day.

One of the limitations of such a small volume is the need to refer to other volumes in the series, without which the reader is left with a number of questions. With this in mind, the book is nonetheless worth buying in its own right and will be of particular help for general dental practitioners and their hygienists.