P. Coulthard, K. Horner, P. Sloan, E. Theaker. Churchill Livingstone price £29.99; pp 272 ISBN

9780702046001

Having owned the first and second editions of this highly acclaimed and popular volume of books, the third edition very much continues from the successes of the previous two volumes, whilst continuing to be refined to satisfy the needs of its target readers who are notably undergraduate students, general dental practitioners and postgraduate students preparing for the MFDS/MJDF examinations, as well as international students sitting the ORE exam.

This book encompasses four major disciplines of dentistry in 16 easy to read, well laid out chapters. Each chapter begins with an 'overview' that explains what the chapter will cover. This is then followed by 'learning objectives' that act as a checklist for the topics covered. The refinements of the third edition are clearly demonstrated in its illustration of the text; for starters the font is larger and easier to read, moreover, the clinical photographs and illustrated diagrams are larger and clearer to view. There is a positive improvement in the paragraph layout with concise bullet points to list important information within the context, giving the impression of written notes, thus making information more easily retrieved.

Like the previous editions each chapter finishes off with a self-assessment section in the form of MCQs, extended matching questions, case reports and oral exam questions to complement the setup of most undergraduate and postgraduate examinations. This section will be valuable to students as it offers them feedback on their performance in that particular subject or chapter.

In my opinion the oral medicine and pathology chapters excel in covering a topic most of us found challenging at undergraduate level. Each chapter leads the reader through the clinical signs and symptoms, pathology, radiological features and management, which are backed up with excellently presented coloured pictures and histological slides, well-defined radiographs and drawn diagrams.

Whilst it would be fair to say that the third edition of Master dentistry, volume 1 hasn't been radically overhauled, it still maintains all the components that make it an excellent book to own. The broad coverage of topics within this edition will appeal to many students; however, this book should be viewed as a complement to existing textbooks and should not be seen as a replacement alternative. With that in mind, it will maintain itself as an invaluable study aid for many students and will find its place in many undergraduate and postgraduate students' bookshelves.