L. Galasso, G. A. Favero. Quintessence price £240.00; pp 830 ISBN

9788874921829

This is a beautifully written and detailed text, brought together from the wealth of experience of the two Italian authors. The book defies convention in that it is not simply another text discussing implants from a restorative perspective. Instead, the authors share many decades' worth of clinical cases highlighting the failures and errors they encountered and offer solutions and remedies to the problems. This approach allows the reader to reduce their clinical incidence of avoidable errors by taking the necessary reproducible steps.

Following on from the introduction, each chapter looks at complications from the time of connection (Chapter two), during implant loading (Chapter three), during prosthetic procedures (Chapter four) and at follow up (Chapter five). The chapters have been organised in this way to allow the reader to follow a logical approach to the problems encountered during implant treatment. This classification system on the basis of onset of complications forms the backbone of the book and the reader can easily navigate to their topic of interest, making it clinically relevant.

The book is presented in hardback with an abundance of stunning colour photographs, radiographs and diagrams, and leaves the reader in awe of the sheer wealth of knowledge offered by these authors. The pages are finished in gloss, which only adds to the overall quality of the book. The book's main strength would have to be its images. It helps to break down the text and allows the reader to appreciate and fully understand each of the problems presented in the clinical cases. I would go as far as to say that the images alone would be reason enough to get hold of this book as they convey the story presented in each of the unique clinical cases.

Each chapter begins by looking at individual complications with relation to its aetiology, clinical signs and symptoms, diagnosis, and resolution and treatment. After discussing these issues the author uses clinical case examples from a library of his own to describe these problems in real-life situations. Factors such as patients concerns and priorities are taken into consideration and are shown to affect the way different cases are handled.

Overall, I think this text would form a suitable read for any implant surgeon or dentist looking to provide implants for their patients in the near future. It lays out clear principles and protocols necessary to provide consistent success with implant treatment making it a very useful practical reference.