Clinical Oral Physiology

  • T. Miles,
  • B. Nauntofte &
  • P. Svensson
Surry: Quintessence, 2004 price £50, pp 298 ISBN 1850970912 | ISBN: 1-850-97091-2

In Clinical Oral Physiology the editors, together with nine other authors, have assembled a novel selection of the aspects of basic science specific to dental practice and oral medicine. The intended audience is the practitioner keen to keep up with developments in the physiological and pathophysiological background to clinical problems s/he encounters. It should also be of value for undergraduate dental students, especially those following problem-based curricula, and for postgraduates in higher clinical training.

The 12 chapters cover saliva: its formation, properties and functions; taste and smell; thermosensation; orofacial pain; the tooth pulp including dentinal and pulpal pain mechanisms; mechanosensation including periodontal mechanoreceptors; masticatory muscles including the dynamics of chewing; mastication and its disorders; swallowing; speech and the effect of dental and oral disorders; oral mechanisms protective of the airways; and bone and calcium metabolism. The chapters are, reasonably, of unequal length with orofacial pain occupying 46 pages and swallowing only nine. Interestingly, the chapter on taste and smell includes a discussion of oral malodour, and that on swallowing also addresses vomiting. The text is not encumbered with references, but a selection of further reading is provided at the end of each chapter — mainly of good review articles.

There is evidence of international authorship, but the text is clear. The level of detail is well-judged: enough to inform, but not too much jargon to confuse the non-specialist. One is always happy to discover unexpected new facts, and several of these were found, including the existence of pressure receptors in connection with implants! Inevitably the odd quibble comes to mind: some errors of proofreading, and a tendency for figures not to be on the same page as the relevant text.

How does it compare with other texts? The clinical relevance is mostly well highlighted, giving the book an advantage. On the other hand, some quite key aspects of oral biosciences are hardly covered — eg plaque, enamel, hydroxyapatite, caries, periodontal destruction, osteogenesis, and orthodontic tooth movement. The book should be assessed on its own terms — not a compendium of basic dental science, but a targeted text for a particular readership.