Mosby's dental drug reference

  • T. W. Gage &
  • F. A. Pickett
UK: Elsevier price £23.99, pp 1,008 ISBN 0323040810 | ISBN: 0-323-04081-0

With an ageing population dentists will be called upon more frequently to treat medically compromised patients. These patients could be taking several medications at any given time. This so-called polypharmacy can affect treatment planning and it is essential clinicians are aware of the possible dental implications. Currently the British National Formulary (BNF) and the Dental Practitioner's Formulary (DPF) are available to both dentists and dental care professionals (DCPs) as an aid and reference of prescription medications. This book aims to be an easy to use, quick and concise source which can be used at the chairside.

This book has a range of contributors from dental, medical and surgical backgrounds. The first section separates drugs by pharmacological action. This is a very useful feature especially when faced with a patient who can recall the condition they suffer with but not their medication. This provides a quick reference and allows the clinician to search further information effectively. Drugs are listed alphabetically and each is described in a set format. This consists of the generic name and its pronunciation, trade names, drug classification, whether it is a controlled drug, mode of action and uses, doses and routes of administration, side-effects, contraindications, precautions, pharmacokinetics, and drug interactions/considerations related to dentistry. This is really the main selling point of this book. It is an excellent feature which is easy to follow and provides relevant information which could affect dental treatment planning. The enclosed CD-ROM contains a total of 30 useful intraoral/extraoral colour photographs of common oral manifestations of specific drugs. Each figure has an accompanying legend and is cross-referenced to the corresponding page in the textbook. In total 950 patient information sheets on specific medications which can be printed and given to patients is also included on the CD-ROM. This feature can be used in any clinical environment and provides the patient with relevant information such as side-effects, dosages etc. The appendices cover a range of topics which include drugs that cause xerostomia and herbal drugs. Bacterial endocarditis prophylactic regimens for dental procedures are described but are cited from the American Heart Association guidelines (1997).

Generally this textbook satisfies its aims and will appeal to GDPs, hospital clinicians and DCPs. UK clinicians should use this textbook as an adjunctive to the current BNF and DPF rather than a primary source and follow the endocarditis guidelines as recommended by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2006).