C. H. Miller, C. Palenik. Elsevier price £39.99; pp 416 ISBN

9780323082570

You may have glanced at the title of this book and decided to move on, however, think again. Infection control is a hot topic within dentistry at the moment, with CQC inspections looming and patients having more say in their environments than ever before. It is important to get excellent infection control absolutely right.

This text, now in its fifth edition, has weathered the changes in dentistry. New chapters range from topics such as hand hygiene to cross contamination between work and home. The book is divided into three main sections comprising 28 chapters in total. Section one deals with the 'microbial world' encompassing a particularly good chapter on emerging diseases, including the new 'Novel coronavirus'. Section two looks at 'infection control', this is a broad topic and covers all key areas. I particularly liked the table regarding hepatitis located in chapter six, which would be ideal for dental undergraduate study. In combination with such tables, there are colourful diagrams arranged logically throughout the book as well as colour clinical photographs. Section three moves on to explore 'office safety.' Within this, the new chapter 'General office safety and asepsis' offers practical advice for managers when assessing the areas used by patients.

All chapters follow the same format: a clear outline, followed by learning objectives and then key terms. This pattern allows a reader to look up any key terms in the glossary before reading further. As the chapters draw to the end, there are consolidation boxes, selected readings and then helpful review questions. These questions could be utilised when preparing for exams as a fun way to challenge knowledge. For those who need a little more interaction, the online support is easy to find and linked to each chapter. This allows you to answer questions online, view the flash cards as well as completing the drag and drop exercises. Well worth a try!

It's important to point out that the foundations of this book are based on American dental policies. There are no direct links to UK policies, but nevertheless, it's true that infection control is becoming more universal. Ultimately, the clear, well founded suggestions would help to improve day-to-day infection control in any setting. Dentists, therapists, nurses and even the lone practice manager who browsed this text, rated it highly; it's now a favourite in our dental practice!

In summary, it's a book that demystifies cross infection control.