This title is intended for professionals and trainees in dentistry and medicine. This well illustrated book is perfect to keep in surgery for professionals and it is an equally valuable educational book for the student.

This nine-chapter clinical handbook organises its chapters by the presenting symptom; ulceration, blisters, white patches, erythema, swelling, pigmentation, orofacial pain, dry mouth, excess salivation, halitosis and altered taste. After these nine chapters there are 20 clinical cases laid out so that the reader can test their knowledge.

There is an introductory chapter that covers the authors’ approach in taking a history and conducting an examination. It also contains excellent pictures of normal structures found within the oral cavity and ample information on special investigations used in oral medicine.

Each chapter starts with a ‘general approach’ to the given symptom. Concise information with patterns of individual disease presentation is then given to help formulate a differential diagnosis. Following this the individual conditions are discussed under the topics of aetiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnosis and management. This consistent format makes this book extremely user friendly.

Each chapter is extremely well written giving the reader an appropriate amount of relevant and interesting information. Complex clinical conditions are broken down and explained with fluency and intelligence. This book contains a remarkable 425 high quality colour photographs. These depict clinical conditions, histopathology slides and radiographic imaging. They are presented well within the text and are always relevant. The 20 clinical cases presented for the reader to test their knowledge will be of particular use to the dental student.

The only criticism of this book is that it does not include references to peer reviewed papers. This will make it less appealing to a small proportion of its intended audience but as a quick reference handbook it is understandable why the authors have made this decision.