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Immunology and infectious diseases of the mouth, head and neck
Watts and Paterson: Initial biological testing of RCSMs
Schmaltz G. (1982) A reproducibility study on the agar diffusion test. J. Dent. Res. 61, 577 (abstr. 115). Schmaltz G. (1988) Agar overlay method. Znt. Endod. J. 21, 59-66. Spangberg L. S. W. (1990) The study of biological properties of dental materials In: Experimental Endodontics. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, chap. 8. Spangberg L. S. W. and Al-Nazhan S. A. (1988) The radiochromium release method for evaluation of cytotoxicity in vitro. Int. Endod. J. 21, 72-78.
265
Tyas M. J. (1991) Dental materials science-the maintenance of standards. J. Oral Rehabil. 18, 105-l 10. Wennberg A. (1988) In vitro assessment of the biocompatability of dental materials-the Millipore filter method. Znt. Ended. J. 21, 67-71. Wennberg A., Hasselgren G. and Tronstad L. (1979) A method for toxicity screening of biomaterials using cells cultured on Millipore filters. J. Biomed. Mater. Res. 13, 109-120.
Book Reviews Essential Dental Microbiology. N. P. Willett, R. R. White and S. Rosen. Pp. 390. 1991. East Norwalk, CT, Appleton Et Lange. Hardback, f30.25. Immunology and Infectious Diseases of the Mouth, Head and Neck. R. F. Zambito and D. J. Cleri. Pp. 405. 1991. London, Wolfe. Hardback, f 79.95. Essential Dental Microbiology is intended to cover all the important topics in microbiology and immunology required by dental students during their undergraduate course. The contents are based on the Circular Guidelines for Microbiology produced by the American Association for Dental Schools. There are 1 7 contributors in addition to the three main authors. The book contains 35 chapters; the first five deal with basic principles of bacteriology, Chapters 6-9 cover immunology and host-parasite interactions, while Chapters 1 O-31 describe the bacteria, viruses and fungi considered to be of importance to dentists. The last four chapters (7 1 pages) deal with the Oral microflora, Dental caries, Periodontal disease and Pulp and periapical infections. At the end of each of the earlier chapters an ‘oral aspects’ section is included. While this arrangement gives the authors an opportunity to relate general and medical microbiology to dentistry, the information is by necessity scattered throughout the text and not easily accessible if an overview is required. The book is well presented and reasonably priced. The text contains a satisfactory balance of tables, line drawings and black and white photographs and overall the quality of these are good. There is a tendency in some chapters (especially in tables) to present an excessive amount of information; do dental students require to be familiar with 17 species of spirochaete and eight species of mycobacteria? The way in which the subject matter is arranged is likely to present the student reader with some difficulty. In most dental courses, an attempt is made to integrate microbiological knowledge into an overall understanding of human disease. This is best achieved by a systematic approach, which involves an integrated description of the clinical presentation, pathogenesis, laboratory diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the various bacteria, viruses and fungi which cause infection in a defined part of the host. In contrast, in this book,
information of this type is not readily available to the student, since infections are described by microbial genera. There is much to praise in this book, but its use by dental undergraduates will depend to a great extent on the type of microbiology course that is offered in individual schools. Immunology and Infectious Diseases of the Mouth, Head and Neck is broader in scope. It aims to supply clinicians who treat these conditions (that is, dentists, otolaryngologists, and head and neck and maxillofacial surgeons), with the relevant scientific and clinical information together with recommendations for therapy. The majority of the 24 contributors are physicians and surgeons, backed up by a few dentists and scientists. The text is split into five sections covering human immune system, host-parasite relationship, antimicrobial agents, oral and orofacial infectious disease, and essential epidemiology. Although the book is reasonably well presented, with adequate reference sections, there are very few illustrations or tables. This makes the book difficult to read, especially for those with little dental background. While it is impossible in this type of multiauthor book to eliminate repetition completely, the editors have generally failed to control this problem; for instance, Chapter 7 deals with osteomyelitis but there is a substantial section on this topic in Chapter 19; another example occurs with HIV infection in Chapters 8 and 21. The reasons for including some of the chapters are not clear and the amount of detailed knowledge presented varies widely: 27 pages on infective endocarditis seems excessive compared with seven for the indigenous oral microflora (four pages of which consist of a simple but lengthy list of microorganisms). Also the 100 pages (25% of the book) devoted to antimicrobial agents seem more than necessary. I have some difficulty in identifying a potential readership for this book for it is an uneven mixture of oral medicine, oral surgery, therapeutics, immunology and microbiology. The editors appear to hold the mistaken view that their text is the first book in this field. Although some chapters are useful as reviews, at nearly f80.00 this book seems destined for the shelves of a few libraries. T. W. MacFarlane
Schmaltz G. (1982) A reproducibility study on the agar diffusion test. J. Dent. Res. 61, 577 (abstr. 115). Schmaltz G. (1988) Agar overlay method. Znt. Endod. J. 21, 59-66. Spangberg L. S. W. (1990) The study of biological properties of dental materials In: Experimental Endodontics. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, chap. 8. Spangberg L. S. W. and Al-Nazhan S. A. (1988) The radiochromium release method for evaluation of cytotoxicity in vitro. Int. Endod. J. 21, 72-78.
265
Tyas M. J. (1991) Dental materials science-the maintenance of standards. J. Oral Rehabil. 18, 105-l 10. Wennberg A. (1988) In vitro assessment of the biocompatability of dental materials-the Millipore filter method. Znt. Ended. J. 21, 67-71. Wennberg A., Hasselgren G. and Tronstad L. (1979) A method for toxicity screening of biomaterials using cells cultured on Millipore filters. J. Biomed. Mater. Res. 13, 109-120.
Book Reviews Essential Dental Microbiology. N. P. Willett, R. R. White and S. Rosen. Pp. 390. 1991. East Norwalk, CT, Appleton Et Lange. Hardback, f30.25. Immunology and Infectious Diseases of the Mouth, Head and Neck. R. F. Zambito and D. J. Cleri. Pp. 405. 1991. London, Wolfe. Hardback, f 79.95. Essential Dental Microbiology is intended to cover all the important topics in microbiology and immunology required by dental students during their undergraduate course. The contents are based on the Circular Guidelines for Microbiology produced by the American Association for Dental Schools. There are 1 7 contributors in addition to the three main authors. The book contains 35 chapters; the first five deal with basic principles of bacteriology, Chapters 6-9 cover immunology and host-parasite interactions, while Chapters 1 O-31 describe the bacteria, viruses and fungi considered to be of importance to dentists. The last four chapters (7 1 pages) deal with the Oral microflora, Dental caries, Periodontal disease and Pulp and periapical infections. At the end of each of the earlier chapters an ‘oral aspects’ section is included. While this arrangement gives the authors an opportunity to relate general and medical microbiology to dentistry, the information is by necessity scattered throughout the text and not easily accessible if an overview is required. The book is well presented and reasonably priced. The text contains a satisfactory balance of tables, line drawings and black and white photographs and overall the quality of these are good. There is a tendency in some chapters (especially in tables) to present an excessive amount of information; do dental students require to be familiar with 17 species of spirochaete and eight species of mycobacteria? The way in which the subject matter is arranged is likely to present the student reader with some difficulty. In most dental courses, an attempt is made to integrate microbiological knowledge into an overall understanding of human disease. This is best achieved by a systematic approach, which involves an integrated description of the clinical presentation, pathogenesis, laboratory diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the various bacteria, viruses and fungi which cause infection in a defined part of the host. In contrast, in this book,
information of this type is not readily available to the student, since infections are described by microbial genera. There is much to praise in this book, but its use by dental undergraduates will depend to a great extent on the type of microbiology course that is offered in individual schools. Immunology and Infectious Diseases of the Mouth, Head and Neck is broader in scope. It aims to supply clinicians who treat these conditions (that is, dentists, otolaryngologists, and head and neck and maxillofacial surgeons), with the relevant scientific and clinical information together with recommendations for therapy. The majority of the 24 contributors are physicians and surgeons, backed up by a few dentists and scientists. The text is split into five sections covering human immune system, host-parasite relationship, antimicrobial agents, oral and orofacial infectious disease, and essential epidemiology. Although the book is reasonably well presented, with adequate reference sections, there are very few illustrations or tables. This makes the book difficult to read, especially for those with little dental background. While it is impossible in this type of multiauthor book to eliminate repetition completely, the editors have generally failed to control this problem; for instance, Chapter 7 deals with osteomyelitis but there is a substantial section on this topic in Chapter 19; another example occurs with HIV infection in Chapters 8 and 21. The reasons for including some of the chapters are not clear and the amount of detailed knowledge presented varies widely: 27 pages on infective endocarditis seems excessive compared with seven for the indigenous oral microflora (four pages of which consist of a simple but lengthy list of microorganisms). Also the 100 pages (25% of the book) devoted to antimicrobial agents seem more than necessary. I have some difficulty in identifying a potential readership for this book for it is an uneven mixture of oral medicine, oral surgery, therapeutics, immunology and microbiology. The editors appear to hold the mistaken view that their text is the first book in this field. Although some chapters are useful as reviews, at nearly f80.00 this book seems destined for the shelves of a few libraries. T. W. MacFarlane