1st Amazing Book Review!!

The most amazing feedback from Robert Bate and I am honestly blown away.

I have sat up until two forty-five, utterly engrossed in this book; 'Care of Head and Neck Cancer Patients for Dental Hygienists and Dental Therapists.

Edited by Joss Harding, this book is a labour of love where every word is valuable.

The book is logically divided into categories, starting with an overview, but rapidly progressing into sub-categories, each authoritative, concise, and entirely relevant to clinical Practice.

The pace is breathless, each chapter reassuringly comprehensive, every term explained in clear and accurate terms, without a hint of patronising or over-complicating;

Academic textbooks can be, truthfully, too academic, a relentless onslaught of esoteric neologisms rapidly negating the reader's initial interest, but this volume neatly sidesteps the potential for verbosity and is a deeply practical manual of our greatest nemesis, a mucosal Moriarty, lurking in a recessed anatomical fold.

Essentially practical, with a strong supporting text, this book outlines the reality of head and neck tumours and the iatrogenic consequences thereof. The chapter on the post-laryngectomy patient is beautifully illustrated, the care and maintenance of the stoma demonstrated with photographs of real cases rather than line diagrams. Equally, the chapter on robotic surgery is a glimpse into the future, especially regarding a subject which very few have actually seen.

The reader is left in no doubt that head and neck cancer implies a massive burden to both the patient and the treating clinician, physiological, psychological, and practical, this reinforced by the final section where patients relay their own journey with this terrible affliction.

The book is a sober, sensible, and,above all, essentially practical guide to looking after such patients, from the viewpoint of an integrated and holistic approach; understanding the role of others involved in such care, rather than the isolationist viewpoint of besieged practitioners.

A veritable labour of love from Joss Harding and a real contribution to the practical care of the increasing number of head and neck cancer patients who we see in our day to day practice.

My only criticism is the title. I'm sure that this began as an intended guide for Hygienists and Therapists, but has grown far beyond the initial target audiece; it is a book for any clinician who encounters those with head and neck cancers.

Certainly it would be essential reading for dental surgeons, GPs and General Nurses as well as the named target audience.

A magnificent book that needs wider dissemination.

Dr Rob Bate BDS (B'ham), DPDS (Brist), MCGDent, MFDSRCS(Eng)

Dental Surgeon