Fazal Ghani
Head of Department of Prosthodontics, Khyber College of Dentistry, University Campus, Peshawar ,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Ghani fazalg55@hotmail.Correspondence:Fazal < com>
How to CITE:
AClinicalGuide toOralDiagnosis andTreatment Planning. JPakDentAssoc. 2012 ; 21(03) : 188 – 190
Publisher:
BritishDentalAssociation, 64Wimpole Street,LondonW1G8YS,England (UK).
This new Clinical Guide Series published by the British DentalAssociation and entitled “AClinical Guide to Oral Diagnosis and Treatment Planning” was long awaited and needed. The need for this book can be seen despite the availability of many good and comprehensive texts and references addressing the topics and issues related to orodental diagnosis and treatment planning. This is because, for many years, an updated relevant and practical text suitable for general dental practice had not been published. This has been despite knowing that the process and procedures for oral diagnosis and treatment planning are continually and rapidly evolving, thus requiring regular updating of texts to remain contemporary. Diagnostic, treatment, preventive and maintenance strategies should be relevant and incorporate newknowledge and practices that are evidence based.
This present book, representing an updated effort in “Oral Diagnosis and Treatment Planning” with its authors as experienced clinical specialists, educators and scientists ismuch needed.Amulti-authored approach to the writing of this book with contributors from Australia, the UK, USA, Hong Kong and Singapore reflects the excellent collaborative qualities of the two main authors, Professors Kevin H.-K. Yip and Roger J. Smales, who are currently working in two different but highly prestigious dental institutions in Australia. The collaborative effort, reflective of a truly ethical approach for seeking some of the excellent and relevant illustrative material of others for this book, can rightly show the patience and commitment of both these principal authors. All this hasmade their book a truly authoritative reference not only for dental practitioners and undergraduate students but also for postgraduate students and their teachers.
Roger Smales is very well-known to many dentists in Pakistan. He has provided excellent support to the most prestigious dental journal in this country, the “Journal of the Pakistan Dental Association (JPDA)”, and he is a servingmember on the “InternationalAdvisory Board” of the JPDA.All readers of this book will note several of his excellent JPDApublications cited in the “List ofReading” at the end of various chapters of the book. This further confirms his sincere support and love for the JPDAand his desire to see it a “truly international journal”.
The book comprises seven sections, accommodating its 19 chapters and an index. Despite the text sections and their chapters eliciting apparent separate identities, they are all well-integrated and inter-connected, complimenting and reinforcing one other. The organization of these chapters has been done to achieve the purpose of taking the reader through the logical and sequential steps required to formulate a successful treatment plan that reflects evidence-based dental practice. The text has been generously illustrated by over 60 screening charts, diagrams, tables and more than 200 clinical and radiographic images of high quality. All this illustrativematerial ismost relevant andwell-chosenwith the title of each chapter printed on the top of each page corresponding to the chapter. The elegant binding in hardcover as shown in the photograph makes the book an impressive and “eye-catching title”. However, the spine portion of the hard-cover might not prevent loosening of the front and end pages of the book. There are some minor typographical “gremlins” and a typesetting mistake with the incorrect insertion of a duplicated clinical photograph at a location meant for depicting the post-operative mirror-view of the maxillary arch in Figure 6 (page 164). I have seen similar mistakes in the other Clinical Guide Series of the BDA, and would suggest for both authors and type-setters to double-check for eliminating such errors and mistakes that certainly should not become a routine in the books of the prestigious BDA. The authors seem to have adopted a very conservative approach to selecting the suggested reading sources on which they have based their writing. There are other very important sources whose mention and citing could have guided the younger reader.One such, among many others, could have been the citation of the excellent education and learning work by AllanG. Farman and Sandra A. Kolsom of the Continuing Education Units. (Available at:www.dentalcare.com).
The present title is an excellent production that will ensure that today’s undergraduate dental student who is “tomorrow’s dentist” reflects all the qualities of the“modern general dental practitioner (GDP)”. An early introduction of dental students to the clinical skills of diagnosis, treatment planning and prevention of orodental conditions is currently the preferred training and educational approach ofmany modern dental institutions. It is these knowledgeable and competent GDPs who will be well-equipped with sound diagnostic, treatment planning and provision and preventive and maintenance skills. Thus, they will be the true “custodians of oral health” by having the abilities of; knowing and differentiating between normal and abnormal oro-dental conditions, providing adequate, minimally needed and appropriate dental care services, and providing the subsequent maintenance of healthy oro-dental tissues and restorations and further disease prevention. The methods explained and used for information gathering, clinical examination, and interpretation of the findings necessary for arriving at the correct diagnosis of the most common conditions seen by general dentists are those that are consistent with current knowledge and understanding.
The decisions for treatments and their provision are those that reflect modern dental practice. The plethora of information related to the identification of risk factors for the various pathological conditions of the hard and soft tissues and structures forming the oro-facial complex will certainly equip the practitioner how to deal better with each individual situation, be it the case for treatment by general practitioners or referral to relevant specialists.The authors have precisely addressed all these aspects and issues. By following a systematic approach to contemporary oral diagnosis and treatment planning, this book will act as a useful guide for general dental practitioners and dental students, be they undergraduates or postgraduates or even their teachers.
All the authors of the book have a long-standing wealth of world-class and high-ranked clinical and teaching experience, and thus are well-cognizant of the needs and work-domains of dental students and general dental practitioners. They are also well-aware of what is appropriate for individual patients rather than promoting the generalization of treatments for patients. Throughout the book the reader is reminded about doing the needful and the necessary and of the need for knowing the limits and boundaries of their own skills. Thus, the authors strongly emphasize and advocate the need for referral to specialists and of the importance of seeking consultations when necessary. The book highlights the existence of great variation in themaking of decisions for the provision of dental services to patients. And, the reader will recognize the strong urging of the authors of not using the “trial and error philosophy” for making decisions for dental therapies, and of avoiding too many experiments and bad judgments. Very truly, to them, dental therapies provided in modern dental practices are to be evidencebased and problem-based. This is especially important in making decisions for the need of a dental treatment or of the need for replacing restorations. The reader will be persuaded to follow a logical approach of the “minimal intervention dentistry philosophy” by repairing and refurbishing existing restorations, and even for not doing any intervention in specific situations, butmonitoring and reviewing.
The composition and structural lay-out of the book includes chapters entitled; Introduction to oral diagnosis and treatment planning, professional etiquette, informed consent and referrals, documentation and the patient folder, information gathering and chart recording, dental radiographic examination, dental pain and sensori motor disorders, dental caries and assessment of risk, periodontal disease and assessment of risk, non-carious tooth surface loss and assessment of risk, occlusal problems and assessment of risk, dental development and oral soft tissue conditions, emergency dental treatment, traffic light-matrix management model for dental caries, preventive and treatment planning for dental caries, preventive and treatment planning for periodontal disease, treatment planning for missing teeth, general and oralhealth-compromised patients, treatment plan examples, and the last chapter dealing with the topics of reviews and maintenance of restorations. These are all dealt with in sufficient and current details to help in preparing the dentist formodern dental practice.
Overall, I consider this book, for clinical dental students and practicing dentists as a practical, logical and convenient guide of great value. It will help some to acquire and update their knowledge of oral diagnosis and treatment planning and treatment provision skills. For others, it will facilitate learning and acquisition of appropriate skills to provide improved and necessary patient care. Surely, it will be welcomed by all and especially by undergraduate and graduate dental students and general dentists as an essential authoritative modern text and clinical guide. The wealth of knowledge and practical learning that this book will facilitate, will certainly be farworthier than its nominal price of £60.00. I strongly recommend its acquisition by all, including the libraries of dental hospitals and institutions all over the globe.