An Introduction to Oral & Maxillofacial surgery

During the clinical component of their course, dental students gain extensive experience of oral surgery techniques, such as tooth extraction, removal of caries and insertion of amalgam. More serious procedures involving extensive infection or malignancy will be referred for hospital treatment. Dental students must learn how to decide which oral disorders can be treated in the dental surgery and which need more specialised treatment. David Mitchell's Introduction to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery provides students with all the information required to cope with the more complex dental disorders requiring hospital treatment. This aim of this text is to provide the reader with an accessible introduction to the full range of topics encompassed by Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. It takes a practical approach, in that its primary focus is on those core competencies required by undergraduates studying this subject. The initial chapters aim to inform, adding to what is already known, the next section to instruct and the latter chapters mainly to inspire those who are interested to read further and perhaps embark on the arduous but worthwhile training this specialty has to offer. It does not aim to rival larger, multi-author specialist texts in covering the more esoteric aspects of the specialty in detail. It is hoped that whoever chooses to read this book will find it easier to learn something about this exciting and relatively young surgical speciality than has previously been the case. At the end of each chapter, where appropriate the author has included some recommendations for further reading.