Key topics in human diseases for dental students (2005)
Authors: P. Sooriakumaran, C. Jayasena and C. Scully
Publisher: Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Oxford, UK
Price: £25.00
ISBN: 1-84184-435-7
This book is a new addition to the ‘Key topics’ series. It aims to provide dental undergraduates with a broad understanding of the main medical and surgical conditions they will encounter in practice. It comprises 50 topics arranged in alphabetical order over 233 pages, facilitating quick and easy reference. Each section has structured handling of information, including descriptions of clinical features, special investigations, management, and new diagnostic developments. Each topic concludes with aspects of particular relevance to the dentist, followed by a ‘Five facts’ summary box. The authors provide a clear and extensive index. Undergraduates will doubtless enjoy the amusing mnemonics suggested as aide memoirs throughout the book.
The reader is encouraged to adopt a logical and methodical approach in the description of the manifestations of systemic disease. For example, the authors provide guidance on how to describe a rash or characterize pain. However, some links from systemic disease to oral manifestations are not well established.
A lack of dental expertise is apparent in some sections of the book. For example, the section on prevention of infective endocarditis may prove confusing for some undergraduates, as it implies that for ‘at risk’ patients, all dental procedures under local or general anaesthesia require antibiotic prophylaxis, rather than only those liable to cause a bacteraemia. In the subsequent ‘Dental aspects’ section, the authors list orthodontic banding as an indication for antimicrobial prophylaxis but fail to mention the severe bacteraemia from separation.
The logical and concise style of this book will appeal to dental undergraduates as an adjunct to standard undergraduate texts on human diseases, both as a ready source of information and as a revision guide.
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