Book review

  • J. M. Whitworth
Quintessence Publishing price £28.00; pp 134 ISBN 9781850972761 | ISBN: 978-1-8509-7276-1

The 2nd edition of this book; released in 2014 as an update into the well recognised Quintessentials dental series. It packs a powerful punch of knowledge spanning across everything endodontics.

From cover-to-cover the reader is taken through the fundamentals of endodontic treatment. Eight logically ordered chapters achieve this, for example they include; the 'Fundamentals of endodontic disease', 'Entering the canal system', and 'Assessing the outcome of treatment'. Whitworth has produced an excellent publication, with many aspects working in the books favour.

A practical book is valuable to any student or practitioner; the A5 size, slim profile and sturdy build put it up to survive in any bag, locker or practice bookshelf.

As a handbook, the location of information is optimised for efficiency throughout, the inclusion of 'Aims, outcomes and conclusions' for each chapter provides insight into the context of each section. The same can be said for the subtitles within chapters; concise, to-the-point headings make it an active, quick and fun book to use.

Text lay-out is in an aesthetic manor, accompanied by an array of detailed schematic diagrams and professional photographs. Complimentary to this is Whitworth's style of literature, reading the book is little like being lectured. It explains various techniques, biology and multiple concepts as though the reader were in conversation with Whitworth; in well written, bitesize paragraphs.

With no disregard for quality, it is important, however, that the reader remembers the book is not a textbook, but a handbook. Whitworth has done exceedingly well to compact his wealth of knowledge into the handbook. An appropriate and impressive depth of information, over a broad spectrum of bases, is covered throughout. Appendices to further reference texts are provided at the end of each chapter, if the reader wishes to gain a deeper understanding of any topics discussed. Accompaniment from the well written style and visual aids; allows students and practitioners to access the facts, figures, information and importantly in endodontics, the three-dimensional concepts, at the flick of a page.

The handbook is an essential for any dental student in the endodontic leg of their dental school's curriculum, and is to be kept within arm's reach of every practitioner. It presents itself as a practical tool for learning, expanding and maintaining knowledge of the biology, anatomy, techniques, treatments and procedures, and potential failures within the endodontic branch of dentistry.