Book review

This book will not fail to please those clinicians who are already converts to this particular brand of dentistry. It has an air of quality about it, which is to be expected from the Quintessence publishers. It is a heavy book in physical terms and it is a heavy book in clinical terms. I read through the do-it-yourself diagrams that almost reminded me of an IKEA approach to fixed prosthodontics. It is an excellent instruction booklet with a step-by-step guide on how to execute those difficult fixed prosthodontic procedures. The diagrams are simple and in ‘several shades of grey’ that allow you to move through the process of either preparing the crown or setting up the casts on an articulator. It is not an exciting read but more a ‘dentistry by numbers’ approach. It is very mechanistic in its approach and this is borne out by some of the statements. For example, it is stated that ‘rampant caries can be brought under control by glass ionomer’, the three-quarter crown is very much alive and there is a detailed description of pin holes to keep restorations in place.