Human disease for dentistry

  • F. Fortune
UK: Oxford University Press price £29.95, pp414 ISBN 0192631632 | ISBN: 0-192-63163-2

The author of Human disease for dentistry is a highly respected clinician who has an impressive knowledge and understanding of general medicine and its relevance to all aspects of dentistry. This expertise is clearly demonstrated in this comprehensive text, which is aimed at helping dental undergraduates understand the significance of the patient's medical history and its potential impact on the dental management of the patient.

The text runs to some 414 pages and 17 chapters. The first chapter is a most useful introduction to patient assessment, and includes a brief overview on the issues of consent and negligence, topics that are often overlooked in student texts. This chapter concludes with a concise summary of trauma and shock. The subsequent chapters deal with human disease in a largely systematic fashion. To aid accessibility there are very helpful text boxes highlighting key facts and also the dental relevance of many of the topics discussed. In addition there is extensive use of bulleted text that will further increase the book's appeal particularly for revision purposes, although there are few diagrams and no clinical photographs. There are also very few cited references and no suggestions for further reading on the main topic areas.

If there is a criticism of this book it is that parts of the text seem unduly detailed and perhaps lacking in simple explanation for undergraduates. Such detail can, on occasion, detract from the salient features of the disease entities under consideration. Inevitably this is a consequence of trying to produce such a comprehensive text. This may also explain the inclusion of some esoteric topics that would normally be considered unwarranted at undergraduate level. Examples of these include anthrax infection, toxic shock syndrome and napkin psoriasis.

In summary, this book contains a wealth of material, and will be a useful addition to the sources of reference required for the human disease course for dental undergraduates. Equally it will also provide a valuable source of reference for junior hospital staff and those working in primary dental care and special needs dentistry.