Cysts of the oral and maxillofacial regions

  • M. Shear &
  • P. Speight
UK: Blackwell price £99.50; pp 240 ISBN 9781405149372 | ISBN: 978-1-4051-4937-2

This book is a fourth edition and was previously called Cysts of the oral regions. Speight has become a joint author with Shear and has helped in updating the book to reflect the advances in the understanding of cystic lesions.

The book is presented in hardback form and contains clinical photographs, radiographs, images of histological sections, and clearly presented data, all in colour. It is split into 18 chapters, the first of which deals with classification of cysts. The authors group them under three main headings: cysts of the jaws, cysts associated with the maxillary antrum, and cysts of the soft tissues of the mouth, face, neck, and salivary glands. Subsequent chapters deal in detail with individual cysts, or groups of rare related lesions. Each chapter gives consideration to clinical features, epidemiology, radiological features, aetiology, and pathology. Impressive detail is given on immunohistochemistry, enzyme histochemistry and genetic advances. The text is extremely well referenced with many very recent publications.

There are a few drawbacks to the book. One is the order in which the cysts are presented. The chapter on radicular cysts is found in the second half of the book yet it is the most common cyst. I found the layout to be less useful than other textbooks. Treatment is considered in terms of general principle; however, the reader is pointed to additional texts for further reading on this topic.

To summarise, this is a very detailed book (over 50 pages are devoted to the odontogenic keratocyst alone), and I feel this is excessive for it to be considered as an undergraduate text. It is probably more suited to specialists in the fields of oral pathology, oral surgery, and maxillofacial radiology. For trainees in these specialties, this text would provide an excellent reference in preparation for examinations.